Mick Hartley

From the Times this morning:

A group of peers have urged Wes Streeting to halt an NHS-backed puberty blocker trial, saying that it will put children on a pathway of “lifelong medical support”….

They said: “Most children with concerns about gender grow out of it. But once placed on puberty blockers, the majority proceed to cross sex hormones — and then to the Wild West of our adult gender clinics. We know the resultant harms: reduced bone density, possible impact on brain development, loss of fertility, sexual dysfunction, a requirement for lifelong medical support, often serious pain and medical complications.

“How can anyone justify placing a further cohort of vulnerable children on a pathway to this future?”

They argue that the new trial of puberty blockers should not begin until existing NHS gender clinics for adults comply with a request to provide data that shows the outcomes of patients who have previously had puberty blockers.

They don’t normally test powerful drugs on young children to see if they work or not, do they? A touch of the Aztec approach to child care…