Natasha Richardson died March 18 in a New York hospital she fell on a Quebec ski slope while not wearing a helmet. (Peter Kramer/Associated Press)

The federal government must adopt tougher standards for helmets to reduce the rising number of concussions suffered on provincial ski slopes, a conference on brain injuries in Edmonton has been told.

Richard Kinar of the Brain Injury Association of Canada said Alberta has one of the highest incidence of brain injury in Canada, and while there are high-tech ski and snowboarding helmets available, consumers don't have access to them.

"We've underwritten the best standards for ski and snowboard helmets," Kinar said, "[but] that helmet is going to sit on the shelf because the manufacturers of helmets refuse to use it unless forced to do so by the federal government.

"As a consumer you have no way of knowing the quality of that helmet or whether it meets any crash-test standards at all because the government refuses to become involved in the marketplace."

The conference was told the number of people taking to the slopes on skis and snowboards has increased 25 per cent in the past five years, and that has led to an increasing number of head injuries.

Dr. Martin Mrazik, a neuro-psychologist at the University of Alberta whose research focuses on sports-related concussions, said new technology has been developed that uses air pockets in the shock- resistant material inside the helmet could reduce the number of brain injuries.

Mrazik said the Canadian Standards Association is developing standards for skiing and snowboarding helmets, but said it's up to the federal government to pass a law that would require manufacturers to adopt those standards.

He also said he hoped legislation would one day make it compulsory for skiers and snowboarder to wear helmets.

The issue of helmets for skiers made headlines last month when British film star Natasha Richardson suffered what proved to be a fatal head injury while skiing in Quebec without a helmet.

The Edmonton conference ended on Saturday.