NFL sought to influence study on brain injuries: report

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NFL sought to influence study on brain injuries: report

Andrew Taylor The Associated Press
Published Monday, May 23, 2016 2:12PM EDT

This Aug. 9, 2014 file photo shows an NFL logo on a goal post padding before a preseason NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Cleveland Browns at Ford Field in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)

Text:

WASHINGTON - A senior House Democrat has found that National Football League officials improperly sought to influence a government study on the link between football and brain disease.

The report by New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone says the league tried to strong-arm the National Institutes of Health into taking the project away from a researcher that the NFL feared was biased.

The NFL had agreed to donate $30 million to the NIH to fund brain research but backed out after the NIH refused to take a $16 million grant away from prominent Boston University researcher Robert Stern. Stern is a leading expert on the link between football and brain diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Taxpayers are instead bearing the cost.

Requests for comment from the NFL were not immediately returned.