S. HRG. 112–324 CONCUSSIONS AND THE MARKETING OF SPORTS EQUIPMENT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION OCTOBER 19, 2011 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 73–514 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:39 Mar 30, 2012 Jkt 073514 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\73514.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas, Ranking JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine BARBARA BOXER, California JIM DEMINT, South Carolina BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN THUNE, South Dakota MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia MARK PRYOR, Arkansas ROY BLUNT, Missouri CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania TOM UDALL, New Mexico MARCO RUBIO, Florida MARK WARNER, Virginia KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire MARK BEGICH, Alaska DEAN HELLER, Nevada ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director BRUCE H. ANDREWS, General Counsel TODD BERTOSON, Republican Staff Director JARROD THOMPSON, Republican Deputy Staff Director REBECCA SEIDEL, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:39 Mar 30, 2012 Jkt 073514 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\73514.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on October 19, 2011 .......................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Boozman .............................................................................. 3 Statement of Senator Udall .................................................................................... 4 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Klobuchar ............................................................................ 61 Statement of Senator Pryor .................................................................................... 63 Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 68 WITNESSES Alexis Ball, Albuquerque, New Mexico .................................................................. 22 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 24 Steven Threet, Tempe, Arizona .............................................................................. 26 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 28 Jeffrey S. Kutcher, MD, Associate Professor, University of Michigan, Depart- ment of Neurology; Director, Michigan NeuroSport; Chair, Sports Neurology Section, American Academy of Neurology .......................................................... 29 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 31 Ann C. McKee, MD, Professor of Neurology and Pathology, Boston University School of Medicine; Director, VISN–1 Neuropathology Laboratory for the New England Veterans Affairs Medical Centers; Director, Brain Banks for the Boston University Alzheimer’s Disease Center, Framingham Heart Study, and Centenarian Study; Co-Director, Center for the Study of Trau- matic Encephalopathy ......................................................................................... 34 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 37 Mike Oliver, Executive Director and Legal Counsel, The National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) .......................... 46 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 48 APPENDIX Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg, U.S. Senator from New Jersey, prepared state- ment ...................................................................................................................... 79 Hon. Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia, prepared statement ................ 79 Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA), prepared statement ......... 80 Scott Hallenbeck, Executive Director, USA Football, prepared statement ......... 84 Stanley Herring, MD, Clinical Professor Departments of Rehabilitation Medi- cine, Orthopedics and Sports Medicine, and Neurological Surgery Univer- sity of Washington; Co-Medical Director Seattle Sports Concussion Pro- gram; Team Physician Seattle Seahawks and Seattle Mariners; and Mem- ber, National Football League’s Head, Neck and Spine Committee, prepared statement .............................................................................................................. 93 Letter dated October 29, 2011 to Hon. Jay Rockefeller from Ralph & Joy Conradt ................................................................................................................. 95 Response to written question submitted by Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg to Alexis Ball ............................................................................................................. 96 Response to written question submitted to Steven Threet by: Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 96 Hon. John Thune .............................................................................................. 96 Response to written questions submitted to Jeffrey Kutcher, MD by: Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 97 Hon. Tom Udall ................................................................................................ 98 Hon. John Boozman ......................................................................................... 99 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:39 Mar 30, 2012 Jkt 073514 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\73514.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE IV Page Response to written questions submitted to Ann C. McKee, MD by: Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 100 Hon. John Boozman ......................................................................................... 100 Response to written questions submitted to Mike Oliver by: Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 101 Hon. Tom Udall ................................................................................................ 102 Hon. John Thune .............................................................................................. 119 VerDate Nov 24 2008 08:39 Mar 30, 2012 Jkt 073514 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\73514.TXT SCOM1 PsN: JACKIE CONCUSSIONS AND THE MARKETING OF SPORTS EQUIPMENT WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:34 p.m., in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA The CHAIRMAN. This hearing will come to order, and it is going to be an absolutely wonderful hearing. There are actually 14 Senators in front of you. You just can’t see all of them. It is something that we are working on with NASA. We become invisible at proper moments. I am very proud that you are here, and I am very proud of our two Senators over here. This one, although you would never know looking at him, is a football player and—or was, I guess I should say. Yes. Senator BOOZMAN. Two stadiums ago. The CHAIRMAN. There you go. So I am going to make an opening statement, and then I wish each of them would. We try to keep it brief because we want to have plenty of time for you to talk and for us to question. I am so grateful for all of you being here, all of you. This is a massive subject. The story which I may tell about my son reveals that parents can’t always be as effective as they would like to be. I haven’t decided whether to do that or not, whether it is an inva- sion of his privacy. But you can advise me when you give your tes- timony. So, anyway, every afternoon at the end of the school day, mil- lions of our children head to playing fields, gymnasiums, or hockey rinks to participate in team sports. I should have said soccer fields, too. Playing sports doesn’t just make our kids stronger and healthier. It also teaches them important values. They learn about hard work, about leadership, about living with pain and going through it, about working together for a common goal. The camaraderie that comes out of sports units is wonderful to see. It is real, and it lasts forever. Most of our young athletes will not end up playing sports at the collegiate or professional level, but we hope they will all carry the positive lessons they have