U.K. Bans Puberty Blockers for Transgender Youth
Under the newly announced ban, minors are prohibited from receiving puberty blockers unless they are enrolled in special clinical trials.
Wes Streeting, the United Kingdom’s health secretary, recently announced that puberty blockers will be indefinitely banned for all people under age 18.
The Department of Health and Social Care said the Commission on Human Medicines had published independent expert advice that there was “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children,” reported The Guardian.
The Labour government’s ban on puberty blockers will apply to transgender patients in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Cisgender children who are experiencing precocious puberty or early-onset puberty will continue to be allowed to access puberty blockers.
Two groups are exempt from the ban: existing transgender patients who receive care through the NHS or private medical providers who have already started treatment, and new transgender patients who are enrolled in clinical trials.
The government has plans to set up a clinical trial next year looking at the efficacy of puberty blockers in treating gender dysphoria.
The ban does not apply to hormone replacement therapy.
The backlash against gender-affirming care in the United Kingdom was prompted by the Cass Review, a study commissioned by NHS England to investigate an uptick in referrals of youth to gender identity clinics and examine the services available to children and youth suffering from gender dysphoria and the evidence that blockers are effective.
Dr. Hilary Cass, the author of the review, which was published earlier this year, characterized puberty blockers as “powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks.”
Cass recommended that puberty blockers should only be prescribed “following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol.”
She added that she supports restrictions on puberty blockers being provided outside the NHS, where she alleged providers are not taking the proper safeguards before prescribing the blockers.
Critics of puberty blockers have argued that there is a lack of evidence that their off-label use for treating gender dysphoria is effective. The Cass Review found “weak evidence” that puberty blockers alleviate feelings of gender dysphoria or lead to better mental health outcomes.
Announcing the nationwide ban, Streeting, a gay man, said he was “determined” to improve health care for trans individuals. He acknowledged that the decision would not be welcomed by LGBTQ advocates but attempted to reassure younger transgender individuals that he is trying to ensure that the care they receive is evidence-based and results in positive health outcomes.
“I know it’s not easy being a trans kid in our country today, the trans community is at the wrong end of all the statistics for mental health, self-harm, and suicide,” he said. “I can’t pretend to know what that’s like, but I do know what it’s like to feel you have to bury a secret about yourself, to be afraid of who you are, to be bullied for it and then to experience the liberating experience of coming out.”
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