The British government has banned the use of puberty blockers for children under the age of 18 because they pose “an unacceptable safety risk’’. Existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of puberty-suppressing hormones will be made indefinite, following official advice from medical experts, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced. The ban will apply to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and also makes it an offence for doctors outside of the United Kingdom to prescribe the blockers for British children suffering gender dysphoria. Mr Streeting said he is listening to “clinicians, not politicians” and said it was a scandal that such drugs had been given to trans youths without proof they were safe or effective. He told the House of Commons: “Trans people feel unsafe unrecognised and unheard and that must change, the puberty blocker medicine has been provided on grounds of insufficient evidence and young people go without the care and support they need.
“That evidence should have been established before being prescribed for this purpose, it is a scandal such medicine given to vulnerable young children without proof it is safe, effective or through rigorous safeguards of a clinical trial.” Some fellow Labour MPs claimed his decision was discriminatory, but the decision was widely lauded among prominent gender-critical voices. Feminist campaigner Helen Joyce said on X that Mr Streeting not only stood firm on the temporary ban on puberty blockers he inherited from the previous government, but he carefully closed loopholes and has now made it indefinite. “This despite a sustained campaign of lies and emotional blackmail,’’ she said. She hailed the move as another step towards puberty blockers being relegated to “a shameful chapter of history”, in which parents and health professionals were emotionally blackmailed into harming children in the name of ‘progress’.
Author JK Rowling said: “Only one gay rights group had the courage to campaign against the use of puberty blockers for gender-confused children: @AllianceLGB. They fought for the right of gender-questioning kids to grow up with their bodies and fertility intact. Blockers have now been banned in the UK.” The government’s indefinite ban comes after a targeted review was carried out in the past few months by the Commission on Human Medicines which found the drugs posed an unaccepted safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children. The puberty blockers had been previously given to children who were questioning their gender, but a temporary ban had been implemented in the wake of the explosive Cass Review which led to the closure of the controversial Tavistock Clinic. Dr Hilary Cass said there was remarkably weak evidence to support the use of puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria. She said allowing the blockers “may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development”.
The Mayo Clinic says the use of puberty blockers, known as gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues (GRHa) has been linked to reduced bone density, fertility issues, mood swings and in males cannot only impact on facial hair and reducing voice deepening, it can limit the growth of the penis, scrotum and testicles. The blockers stop puberty by impacting the release of hormones from the pituitary gland. For females, it induces a menopause-like state, stopping menstruation and limited breast development. Patients may then consider gender-affirming hormone therapy causing some permanent changes that cannot be reversed. Mr Streeting said the commission on human medicines was an independent body made up of leading clinicians and epidemiologists which advises on medicine safety. “They took evidence directly from clinical experts, consultant pediatric endocrinologists and patient representatives, including representatives of trans people, young people and their families.
“After thoroughly examining all the available evidence, they have concluded that prescribing puberty blockers to children for the purposes of gender dysphoria in the current prescribing environment represents, and I quote, ‘an unacceptable safety risk’.” He said that “of particular concern to the Commission was whether these children and their families were provided with enough time and information to give their full and informed consent”. Mr Streeting said the NHS would be soon conducting a medical trial involving puberty blockers and starting next year. The Family Education Trust said the trial is morally wrong. “We will not stop pointing out that using vulnerable children as guinea pigs for drugs that are already known to cause irreversible harm is morally wrong. What happens to these children when the NHS trial causes them permanent damage – will they sue?”, the trust said. Mr Streeting told MPs: “We do not yet know the risks of stopping pubertal hormones at this critical life stage. That is the basis upon which I am making decisions. I am treading cautiously in this area because the safety of children must come first.” In Australia, clinics prescribe cross-sex hormones to children as young as 14.
Source: Christian Post
Print This Post
Comments are closed