'Concussion' Scientist, Bennet Omalu, Lobbies for an Age Limit in Football

Bennet Omalu has proposed a radical idea for sports--football, specifically. In an op-ed published for the New York Times, the forensic pathologist lobbied for an age limit to be put on kids playing the sport--much like the restrictions on cigarettes, alcohol, and consenting for sex. The idea is that it would limit football's concussion crisis.

"We have a legal age for drinking alcohol; for joining the military; for voting; for smoking; for driving; and for consenting to have sex. We must have the same when it comes to protecting the organ that defines who we are as human beings," wrote Omalu.

Omalu's name might sound familiar to you (if it doesn't, you probably haven't turned on a TV, or scanned the Internet lately. In that case, Kudos!). Here's why, via the Huffington Post:

"Omalu is the basis of Will Smith's character in the upcoming film "Concussion," which depicts Omalu's fight to prove that NFL players develop the brain disease Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) as a direct result of football--a link the league famously tried to discredit."

Omalu wrote that while we, as a society, have become more intellectually sophisticated and knowledgeable about matters, we have done away with old practices in the name of safety. Except when it comes to sports. He goes on to question why we would subject our children to these dangers, while knowing of the damages that can be done.

"Over the past two decades it has become clear that repetitive blows to the head in high-impact contact sports like football, ice hockey, mixed martial arts and boxing place athletes at risk of permanent brain damage," wrote Omalu.

"Why, then, do we continue to intentionally expose our children to this risk?"

Omalu described the dangers that repetitive head trauma can cause over years of abuse, even potentially causing irreversible damage. And while he's firmly against subjecting a child to the dangers he describes, he also firmly supports a person's right to make the decision to partake in the sport--or to smoke cigarettes, for that matter--once they are of the proper age.