California Governor Gavin Newsom rejected a bill that would have banned football for children under 12, with his veto threat leading the bill’s sponsor to withdraw it from consideration on Wednesday.
California would have been the first state in the United States to ban contact football for children, according to the nonprofit CalMatters, although lawmakers in several other states have introduced similar bills, but without success. concerned that hits to the head in contact sports could cause brain damage. injuries. State Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat, presented his proposed ban before a sports committee last week, preparing the bill for a vote in the Assembly.
But Newsom, a Democrat widely seen as gearing up for a future White House run, announced Tuesday night that he would refuse to sign a ban. “I am deeply concerned about the health and safety of our young athletes, but an outright ban is not the solution,” Newsom said.
In response, McCarty said in a statement Wednesday, “We will not pass AB 734 – which would have phased out children 12 and under from playing youth tackle football.” American football remains very popular, even though the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health have linked it to an increased risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Boston University researchers diagnosed 345 of 378 former professional players studied with CTE. Interest in the topic grew after the suicides of a number of former players, including Hall of Fame linebacker Junior Seau, who suffered from CTE.
McCarty said he welcomed Newsom’s offer “to work on ways to better protect our youngest athletes and protect them from repetitive blows to the head.”
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
