Super Bowl Safety Warning?

www.ozy.com [OZY]( [OZY]() Your World. Bold & Bright Sponsored by [Cariuma]( Big, bold ideas. Future changemakers. Thrilling recommendations. This is the Sunday read you’ll find nowhere else. Feb 12, 2023 Sunday Is it time to give Big Football the Big Tobacco treatment? [GET ‘EM BEFORE THEY’RE GONE!]( [Cariuma]( If you missed them last time around, the sneakers you’ve heard us rave about from the cool sustainable sneaker brand, [Cariuma]( are back after clearing a 77k waitlist! With over twenty-thousand (😲) 5-star reviews, a vast range of colors, prints, and limited edition collabs, they’re sure to have exactly what you’re looking for to gear up for spring. And for a limited time, the OZY family can take 15% off your pair. Use the code [OZYFEB]( at checkout. [SHOP HERE]( The Warnings That Saved Millions It was another action-packed season in the NFL this year, and again that action led to numerous concussions and head injuries that have reignited the controversy surrounding the dangers inherent to the sport. What more can be done to protect current and prospective players? The government could start with one simple measure that has succeeded in limiting the harms of another great American pastime. Not so very long ago, it was hard to go anywhere in America and not see a cigarette. You could even [light up on an airplane]( with the same ease as you’d fire up your tablet today. Then came the surgeon general’s landmark 1964 report Smoking and Health, which linked smoking to lung cancer and heart disease, and forever altered the conversation about the dangers of the habit. Congress would follow with a 1965 law requiring cigarette packs to carry warning labels. Now more than 50 years later, adult smoking rates in the U.S. have plummeted from 43% (in 1965) to [12.5% (in 2020)](. To be sure, warnings on cigarette packs alone didn’t curb smoking in America. Taxes, smoking bans and advertising restrictions also had a huge influence. But the ever-present “Surgeon General’s Warning” came to define a much bolder and persistent public awareness campaign. [The Shoe with the 77k Waitlist is Back in Stock!]( [Cariuma]( From LA to NYC, and Munich to Sydney meet the shoe that’s loved by celebs, surfers, and skaters alike. The [OCA Low]( is the perfect shoe for spring – with a vast variety of shades and prints to pick from, they’re sure to meet the vibe check. Don’t wait around – these comfy kicks fly off the shelves (they just cleared a 77k+ person waitlist!) and won’t be here for long. Claim your cool, and use your limited-time code [OZYFEB](for 15% off your pair of Cariumas. [SAVE 15% NOW]( The Rise of a New Health Hazard Even as the smoke receded across the bars and social gatherings of America over the past five decades, a new national passion took root: football. The sport is, of course, not as harmful as smoking, and poses no secondhand effects, among other things. But it does raise some of the same uncomfortable issues about public health, hard science and protecting America’s youth as cigarettes once did. Studies now link brain disorders like chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) with playing football. Still, over the years, the National Football League’s (NFL) response to such findings “in some ways has mirrored Big Tobacco’s response to data linking smoking to lung cancer,” says Chris Nowinski, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit [Concussion Legacy Foundation]( — and a WWE professional [wrestler turned neuroscientist](. Those similarities, says Nowinski, include conducting and funding flawed research and targeting children despite the known risks. There is no question, says Nowinski, that the government should “intervene to protect children from unnecessary brain injury and preventable brain disease.” The question is how could the government best accomplish this task? One way would be to do so in a manner similar to how it once approached the risks of smoking. Giving the Big Game the Big Tobacco Treatment Better equipment, concussion protocols and public awareness campaigns have all helped to start addressing football’s head trauma problem. Around [half of all Americans]( now think that playing football is not appropriate for kids, and youth participation rates have declined. But kids who play tackle football still sustain [15 times more]( head impacts than children who play flag football, so more needs to be done. The U.S. government could go even further to bolster awareness and deterrence by taking a page from the old cigarette playbook, and affixing a [Surgeon General’s warning]( to football equipment, NFL broadcasts and other football-related products and services. And what better high-profile place to start than with a disclaimer before the Super Bowl itself? Warning labels and public service announcements alone won’t alter behavior overnight, but they are meaningful tools. And amid increasing data about the sport’s [lifelong health risks](, it feels like something more drastic is needed to tackle football’s dangerous impact. NOW STREAMING FROM OZY STUDIO ABOUT OZY OZY is a diverse, global and forward-looking media and entertainment company focused on “the New and the Next.” OZY creates space for fresh perspectives, and offers new takes on everything from news and culture to technology, business, learning and entertainment. [www.ozy.com]( / #OZY Curiosity. Enthusiasm. Action. That’s OZY! 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