December 11th 2024.
The recent decision to ban the use of puberty blockers for those under 18 in the UK has been causing quite a stir. The Department of Health and Social Care has indefinitely prohibited the use of these medications, following the publication of independent expert advice from the Commission on Human Medicines. This advice stated that there is currently an unacceptable safety risk in prescribing puberty blockers to children. As a result, these medications will now only be available for use in clinical research trials, rather than as a standard treatment option.
According to Dr. Hilary Cass, who conducted the Cass Review on children's gender care, puberty blockers are powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks. In her final report, she recommended that they should only be prescribed after a thorough multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol. She fully supports the government's decision to continue restrictions on the dispensing of puberty blockers outside of the NHS, where these important safeguards are not being provided.
But what exactly are puberty blockers? These medications are used to pause the physical changes of puberty, such as breast development or facial hair. They work by blocking the hormones testosterone and estrogen, which are responsible for these changes in the body. The most commonly used medications for this purpose are called gonadotropin-releasing hormone.
The Health and Social Care Secretary, Wes Streeting, emphasized the need to act with caution and follow expert advice when it comes to caring for this vulnerable group of young people. He also encouraged members of the LGBTQ+ community to join Metro's vibrant WhatsApp channel, which provides a platform for discussing the latest news and important issues facing the community.
Streeting explained that the decision to ban the use of puberty blockers was based on the findings of the independent expert Commission on Human Medicines, as well as the safety concerns raised by Dr. Cass's review. He also assured the public that the government is working with NHS England to open new gender identity services and is planning to conduct a clinical trial on the use of puberty blockers next year to establish a clear evidence base for their use.
For those who may not be familiar with the term, gender dysphoria is a sense of distress or unease that a person may feel about the gender they were assigned at birth. This could manifest as a person born male feeling uncomfortable with that identity or a person born female not aligning with their assigned gender. While it was previously listed as a mental disorder, it was removed from the list by the World Health Organisation in 2018.
It's worth noting that this is not the first time the Conservative government has implemented an emergency ban on the use of puberty blockers for youth with gender dysphoria. And Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, has made it clear that the safety of children will always be a top priority.
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