RUGBY NEWS - The UK's chief medical officers (CMOs) are being urged to protect children from the risks of rugby injuries by removing contact from the school game.
Prof Allyson Pollock, from Newcastle University, is presenting new evidence that banning tackling would reduce concussion, head and neck injuries.
A spokesman for World Rugby said it was unaware of any new evidence that would challenge the current position.
Last year, the CMOs rejected a call for a ban on tackling in youth rugby.
They said the benefits of learning, training and playing rugby outweighed the risks of injury.
Writing in an opinion piece for the BMJ, Prof Pollock and Graham Kirkwood, also from Newcastle University, said that governments had "a duty to protect children from risks of injury and to ensure safety of children" under a United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 19).
