Latest news with #GnRHa
Epoch Times
09-05-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
NHS Urged to Halt Puberty Blocker Trial Following Supreme Court Judgment
A group of campaigners is urging the NHS and the government to halt a planned puberty blockers trial in light of the recent Supreme Court judgment on the legal definition of sex. The four campaign groups wrote to NHS CEO Sir James McKey and Health Secretary Wes Streeting on April 28 asking them to urgently reconsider the trial because the ruling means that young people who wish to 'transition' through drugs and surgery cannot be guaranteed legal status as the opposite sex. The proposed trial has been accused of using vulnerable children as ' Authored by Sex Matters, the LGB Alliance, Transgender Trend, and Genspect, Last month's landmark judgment confirms that the correct interpretation of the protected characteristic of sex for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010 is 'biological sex only,' regardless of whether a person has obtained a Gender Recognition Certificate which says they have legally changed gender. Interim guidance issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission published following the Supreme Court's unanimous ruling means that single-sex spaces, services, and associations must not be open to people of the other sex, or businesses and public bodies risk legal action for failing to uphold women's legal rights. Related Stories 4/16/2025 5/5/2025 The letter says that young people seeking to be part of the trial, or to have other interventions in future, need to have the far-reaching implications of the judgment made clear to them. 'Children under the care of all gender services, both NHS and private, must now be told that they will never be able to access spaces or services for the opposite sex, no matter what legal or medical steps they take now or in the future. 'Such children will, throughout their lives, need to use either the spaces and services designated for their own sex or an alternative provided for both sexes (mixed-sex or single-user) if available.' The campaigners continue, 'This means that the entire premise of treatment with puberty blockers for gender dysphoria has fallen away.' 'Restricted Employment Opportunities' The drugs, known as gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues, or GnRHa, are intended to block children's natural puberty so that if feelings of gender dysphoria persist and they later progress to cross-sex hormones and surgery, they will 'pass' better as the opposite sex. The letter says that 'passing' as the opposite sex may cease 'to be a desirable goal to present to children when they will never be permitted to use spaces or services for the opposite sex, and may in future be restricted in employment in roles such as police officer or nurse which can involve intimate contact with others in situations where sex matters for those others' human rights.' The campaign groups involved have consistently argued that it was both unethical and a breach of human rights principles to treat young people's mental distress with what they term 'major, unproven physical interventions with known harms.' Undated photo of Maya Forstater, co-founder of campaign group Sex Matters. Nicole Jones/Handout via PA As well as interfering with normal adult sexual function and fertility, puberty-blocking drugs—which are essentially the same as the The testosterone-suppressing drugs given to men who wish to present as women are also used for the castration of sex offenders and in the treatment of prostate and other cancers. Potential Serious Side-Effects Known side-effects of the testosterone blocking drugs include an increased risk of blood clots, cardiovascular disease, and slow-growing tumours affecting the brain and spine, as well as gallstones, dehydration, and increased urination. Over time, these drugs may also increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis in men. With the oestrogen-suppressants given to women desiring a more masculinised appearance—usually prescribed in conjunction with testosterone—known and common side-effects include high blood pressure, weight gain, acne, male pattern baldness, increased risk of cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and type 2 diabetes. They also decrease levels of cholesterol in the brain, believed to be linked to the development of The campaigners add in their letter that since no promise can be made that medical treatment will enable a person to fit in or go unnoticed while using opposite sex facilities, 'the use of these drugs on children too young to understand this is ethically untenable.' Bayswater is a support group for the parents of trans-identified adolescents and young people who advocate for evidence-based care, and have all resisted what a spokeswoman for the group called 'unrelenting pressure' to allow their children to take puberty blockers. The group told The Epoch Times: 'The decision not to reveal the research protocol pending ethics approval creates additional anxieties, since families will not know whether their children could be recommended for an irreversible pathway. This uncertainty is stopping many parents from accessing CAMHS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, where referrals to gender clinics are made]. 'Parents already report that children are using extreme pressure and emotionally coercive demands to get them to agree to medicalisation. Understandably, parents fear being put in a position in which they feel forced to provide consent.' Permanently Banned Puberty blockers were permanently banned throughout the UK after Streeting extended a temporary ban imposed by the previous Conservative government. The High Court ruled that In spite of the ban, children and teenagers suffering gender confusion will still be able to access the drugs on the trial, which will be carried out by a team of researchers led by In her independent review into children's gender services, leading paediatrician Baroness Dr. Hilary Cass said there was 'remarkably weak' evidence to support the use of the drugs, which 'may permanently disrupt the brain maturation of adolescents, potentially rewiring neural circuits that cannot be reversed.' Following Cass's report, plans for the trial were announced as part of a multi-million-pound NHS-funded package of research into child gender dysphoria. Illustration by The Epoch Times, The Cass Review, Getty Images, Freepik 'We Don't Know Enough' The NIHR says that the rationale for prescribing blockers is that they 'might give young people time to think about their identity without worrying about their bodies changing during puberty. However, we don't know if GnRHa are safe and helpful for young people with gender incongruence.' 'We also do not know enough about how identity and feelings develop for young people with gender incongruence as they grow up and what treatment is helpful. The PATHWAYS research study will provide new and important evidence that will help young people with gender incongruence, along with their parents and health professionals, to make informed choices about the care and support options that are most likely to be helpful.' It will see young people, with the agreement of their parents or carers and NHS gender services, given puberty suppressing hormones over a two-year period. Researchers will aim to monitor the physical, social, and emotional well-being of the youngsters recruited onto the trial, carrying out cognitive testing and brain scans to ascertain whether using puberty blockers affects a subject's learning ability and brain development. The scandal-hit Tavistock clinic for children suffering gender incongruence, which has now been closed down, carried out an The clinical research showed no improvement in children's reported gender distress or mental health following use of the medication. The report also revealed that the vast majority of youngsters put on puberty blockers progressed to treatment with cross-sex hormones as young adults. The Cass Review found that the majority of young people grow out of their feelings of gender incongruence, which persists only for a 'small minority' of people. Her review found that youngsters with mental health problems or those on the autism spectrum were frequently misdiagnosed with dysphoria. Keira Bell outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London, where a landmark case to stop the NHS prescribing "experimental" puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to children who wish to undergo gender reassignment reached the High Court, in London on Jan. 22, 2020. Sam Tobin/PA Threat of Future Litigation Bell, together with the parents of a teenager seeking to prevent their child being given the drugs, initially won the case in 2020, but the decision was overturned on appeal, allowing the prescribing of puberty blockers to continue until the government intervened in the wake of the Cass Review. Earlier this year, a solicitor reportedly instructed by Bell and psychotherapist James Esses, wrote to the Health Research Authority (HRA), the body responsible for protecting the interests of patients and the public in health and social care research, to warn them of potential future litigation if children are harmed in the trial, or come to regret taking the drugs in the future. The HRA told The Epoch Times in a statement that it has yet to receive the application for the study. 'We are expecting an application from the PATHWAYS programme of research for a clinical trial, but we have not received [it] yet. If an application is received it will be reviewed in line with our standard operating procedures for Research Ethics Committees (RECs), as would any other clinical trial. A REC reviews the ethical considerations of a study and gives an opinion on whether it should proceed. A summary of any study given a final opinion by a REC is published on our website no earlier than 90 days of the final opinion being given.' The Epoch Times has contacted NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care for comment.
The Independent
28-02-2025
- Health
- The Independent
£10m funding for children's gender research including NHS puberty blocker trial
More than £10 million in NHS funding will be spent on new research into children's gender care including the use of puberty blockers. Plans for a trial were announced last year following the publication of the Cass Review which concluded the quality of studies claiming to show beneficial effects of such medication for children and young people with gender dysphoria was 'poor'. An NHS-commissioned study, to last until 2031, has now been confirmed by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR), to be carried out by a team of researchers led by King's College London on a contract worth £10,694,902.24. Baroness Hilary Cass, who authored the 2024 report in her name, said the research aims to 'fill some of the gaps in our knowledge about the outcomes of different interventions and address some of the uncertainty about the impacts and efficacy of puberty suppressing hormones'. The puberty blocker trial will form part of the four-part wider Pathways study. It will see young people, who have the agreement of their parents and NHS gender services, given puberty suppressing hormones (gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues or GnRHa) while having their physical, social and emotional well-being monitored across two years. Other parts of the overall study will involve tracking the well-being of children, including those not on the puberty blocker trial, attending NHS gender clinics. The research will also monitor whether puberty blockers affect young people's thinking and brain development, using various activities and brain scans. Researchers will speak to young people about their experiences of living with gender incongruence and of the care they get, as well as obtaining the views of parents and staff. The first patients had been expected to be recruited to the puberty blocker trial this spring but the NHS has noted this will be subject to strict ethical and regulatory approval. Professor James Palmer, who is the NHS national medical director for specialised services, said: 'This suite of research will examine the evidence for a range of clinical care, including the use of puberty suppressing hormones, following advice from the Cass Review. 'Independent researchers led by King's College London will now progress this joint NHS and NIHR project, which will be subject to strict ethical and regulatory approval and follow stringent safeguards in scientific research. 'In the meantime, the NHS continues to expand and improve services for children and young people with gender dysphoria and incongruence, in line with recommendations from the Cass Review.' Baroness Cass added: 'Access to the study will be through the new NHS children and young people's gender services where a multi-disciplinary team approach will be taken to identify those children who, with the consent of their parents, may be deemed clinically suitable for consideration of puberty suppressing hormones through the study. 'The children participating in the study will also continue to receive comprehensive psychosocial support.' Puberty blockers are not prescribed on the NHS to children for the treatment of gender dysphoria, with a ban last year being made permanent in December with the agreement of devolved governments across the UK. The ban sought to close a loophole on the sale and supply of puberty blockers through private prescriptions for under-18s after the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) published independent expert advice that there is 'currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children'.
