Mick Hartley

Extraordinary.

Drug-induced milk from transgender women who were born male is as good for babies as a mother's breast milk, an NHS Trust has said.

A leaked letter from the Medical Director of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust describes both as 'human milk' and says that they are the 'ideal food for infants'.

The letter was sent on behalf of the Trust's Chief Executive in response to a campaign group's complaint about the Trust's gender policies.

It defends the controversial practice of 'induced lactation' by means of powerful medication to enable trans women to simulate breastfeeding. It also claims that the term 'human milk' is 'meant to be neutral and is not gender-biased'.

Pandering to trans ideology is more important than the health of children? This would be grotesque anyway – but coming from a hospital…

But responding to the letter, Labour MP Rosie Duffield said: 'Babies can't be used as guinea pigs for someone else's lifestyle choice.

'When a man has not and cannot grow a baby, why on earth are we pandering to this? Who does it benefit? Not the children. We wouldn't do any other medical experiments on babies. Breast milk made by a baby's biological mother is tailor-made for that baby.'…

The document was revealed as part of a report by the think-tank Policy Exchange.

Lottie Moore, the organisation's Head of Equality and Identity, said: 'This letter is unbalanced and naive in its assertion that the secretions produced by a male on hormones can nourish an infant in the way a mother's breast milk can.'

Ms Moore added: 'A child's welfare must always take precedence over identity politics and contested belief systems that are not evidence-based. The NHS should not be indulging in this nonsense. It is compromising women's rights and child safeguarding.'

In explaining its policies, the Trust cited a five-month scientific study in 2022 which measured 'infant milk testosterone concentrations' and found 'no observable infant side effects' on babies of lactating transgender women. But experts rejected the claims and pointed out the overall lack of scientific studies on such side effects. 'There have been very few publications and the vast majority have not looked at what's in the milk itself,' one medical expert said.

Indeed, some of the campaigners' concerns are over the safety of the drugs given to men to produce the milk – drugs which can cause heart problems. They also point out that the result produces very little milk. There is 'barely enough for a single feed' per day, the same expert told The Mail on Sunday.

Why on earth are they doing this? Oh yes:

University Hospitals Sussex Trust is a member of Stonewall's controversial 'Diversity Champions' programme. It admitted that its policy was derived after advice from 'external organisations' – but refused to clarify which.

As an X commenter put it:

Women: restrict drinking coffee, eating some types of cheese, no alcohol, or you're a selfish bad unnatural mother. The baby matters more than you.
Men: feed newborn babies any chemically induced nipple discharge full of toxins you want. It's you that matters more than the baby.