Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., is expected to make some noise about football helmets during a hearing Thursday, calling for a probe into the safety of such protective headgear, The New York Times reported Tuesday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/sports/football/01helmets.html?ref=todayspaper
Udall has written to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) asking it to look into current voluntary industry standards for football helmets, and to what extent those guides are safeguarding players against concussions.
The senator was slated to talk about football-helmet safety tomorrow at a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing that will also include testimony from several CPSC officials, The Times said.
Udall and others have voiced concern that football helmets are just tested to see if they can withstand hard hits that can cause skull fractures, not lesser hits that are capable of causing concussions.
The helmet testing is currently handled by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment, a group whose membershop and funding comes from the sporting good industry, according to The Times.