The forensic pathologist and neuropathologist who first discovered chronic traumatic encephalopathy in American football players said children should not be allowed to play high-impact contact sports until they are 18 years old, likening in risks of football to smoking, alcohol and asbestos.

Dr Bennet Omalu cited a moral duty to prevent minors from playing football until they are old enough to decide about the risks for themselves in a New York Times op-ed published on Monday.

“Our children are minors who have not reached the age of consent,” Omalu wrote. “It is our moral duty as a society to protect the most vulnerable of us. The human brain becomes fully developed at about 18 to 25 years old. We should at least wait for our children to grow up, be provided with the information and education on the risk of play, and let them make their own decisions. No adult, not a parent or a coach, should be allowed to make this potentially life-altering decision for a child.

“We have a legal age for drinking alcohol; for joining the military; for voting; for smoking; for driving; and for consenting to have sex. We must have the same when it comes to protecting the organ that defines who we are as human beings.”

Omalu’s research into CTE is the subject of the forthcoming film Concussion, in theaters on 25 December, in which he is played by Will Smith.