A PSA from the Concussion Legacy Foundation and Fingerpaint is warning parents about the dangers of kids playing tackle football with a visual no one wants to see: kids smoking cigarettes.
The campaign, Tackle Can Wait, is based on studies that show how tackle football and concussions can affect a developing brain. One study said kids who start tackle football at age five have 10 times the risk of developing the brain disease CTE, a neurodegenerative disease caused by repeated head injuries with symptoms like behavioral, thinking and mood problems.
Tackle Can Wait compares that risk of developing CTE to the risk of smoking leading to lung cancer, saying the risk of CTE “adds up” faster than the risk of developing cancer from smoking.
The Concussion Legacy Foundation wants parents to wait until their kids are 14 before playing tackle football, saying any kids younger should only play flag football.
