The National Health Service (NHS) in England announced Tuesday that children will no longer be prescribed puberty blockers to ensure “the best interests of the child.”
The ban follows a public consultation and NHS England’s independent review of transgender services among children in 2018. Puberty blockers will now only be available to children as part of clinical research.
“Experimental drugs with huge harms should never have been given to children in the first place. Finally common sense, scientific fact and medical ethics have triumphed,” TalkTV’s Julia Hartley Brewer said.
Dr. Hilary Cass, who led the review, said in a February 2022 interim report that there was a need to move away from puberty blockers and create a new unit to better tend to minors, according to TalkTV. She expressed concern about the lack of longterm information about the effects medications and hormonal blockers have on children.
The NHS is opening up two new services in April where clinical technicians specializing in neurodiversity, mental health and pediatrics will tend to these kids to result in a “holistic approach to care,” according to the outlet.
“We have always been clear that children’s safety and wellbeing is paramount, so we welcome this landmark decision by the NHS,” health minister Maria Caulfield said. “Ending the routine prescription of puberty blockers will help ensure that care is based on evidence, expert clinical opinion and is in the best interests of the child.” (RELATED: Elon Musk Says Parents, Doctors Who Sterilize Children Should Go To Prison ‘For Life’)
Former United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss welcomed the NHS’s decision and called on the British government to ban hormonal drugs from being privately supplied.
“I welcome NHS England’s decision to end the routine prescription of puberty blockers to children for gender dysphoria. I urge the Government to back my Bill on Friday which will reinforce this in law and also prevent these drugs being supplied privately,” Truss said.
I welcome NHS England’s decision to end the routine prescription of puberty blockers to children for gender dysphoria.
I urge the Government to back my Bill on Friday which will reinforce this in law and also prevent these drugs being supplied privately.👇 https://t.co/vV8Y5snQaI
— Liz Truss (@trussliz) March 12, 2024
A German study published in late February found that puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones given to minors are “low quality” and have “significant conceptual and methodological flaws.” The study further found that these procedures do not show any improvement in a child’s mental health.
The U.K, Finland and Norway agree there is insufficient evidence that the alleged benefits of puberty blockers and hormone procedures outweigh the risks. The (NHS) had previously been in the process of banning puberty blockers outside of strict clinical trials for minors, arguing that many trans-identifying children grow out of it. Norway recommended that these procedures be classified as experimental treatments.
Decades of research show that anywhere from 65 to 94 percent of transgender kids eventually cease to follow those identities in adulthood, according to KHN.