By Michael Searles
London: Puberty blockers are to be banned indefinitely in the UK after an expert review warned that the drugs posed an “unacceptable safety risk” to children.
The government said that an independent report by the Commission on Human Medicines found that there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.
Trans rights activists take part in a protest against the ban on hormone blockers in London in April.Credit: Getty Images
The drugs, which stop the onset of puberty and had been routinely given to children questioning their gender, will now only be available through a clinical trial run by the NHS.
The Cass Review, led by the paediatrician, Dr Hilary Cass concluded that there was “remarkably weak” evidence to support their use in children with gender dysphoria, and put them on an affirmative pathway that “may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development”.
An emergency ban was introduced in May by Victoria Atkins, a Conservative and the health secretary at the time.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting outlined his intention to make the ban permanent in July, as first revealed by The Telegraph, and extended the ban.
On Thursday (AEDT), he told the House of Commons that he had “asked the Commission on Human Medicines to look at the current environment for prescribing puberty blockers, and we launched a targeted consultation”.
“The commission is an independent body made up of leading clinicians and epidemiologists which advises on medicine safety,” he said.
“They took evidence directly from clinical experts, consultant paediatric endocrinologists and patient representatives, including representatives of trans people, young people and their families.
“After thoroughly examining all the available evidence, they have concluded that prescribing puberty blockers to children for the purposes of gender dysphoria in the current prescribing environment represents, and I quote, ‘an unacceptable safety risk’.”
“Billboard Chris” campaigns in London against children being given puberty blockers when they want to change sex. Credit: Alamy Stock Photo
He said that “of particular concern to the commission was whether these children and their families were provided with enough time and information to give their full and informed consent”.
It means there is now an indefinite ban restricting the sale or supply of puberty blockers for under-18s through a prescription issued either by a UK doctor or someone registered outside the UK.
While health is a devolved matter, the ban applies to England, Wales and Scotland, as well as Northern Ireland, which on Tuesday agreed to stay in line with the rest of the UK to prevent it becoming a “back door”.
The ban will be reviewed in 2027, the AP reported.
NHS England said that it “closes a loophole that posed a risk to the safety of children and young people”.
Cass, who published her report in April, described puberty blockers as “powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks”.
“That is why I recommended that they should only be prescribed following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol,” she said.
“I support the government’s decision to continue restrictions on the dispensing of puberty blockers for gender dysphoria outside the NHS where these essential safeguards are not being provided.”
Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at the charity Sex Matters, said: “This will be an emotional day for families whose children experienced the physical harms caused by puberty blockers and the campaigners subjected to abuse, discrimination and scorn for raising the alarm in the years before the Cass Review.
“Wes Streeting has shown integrity and bravery in replacing a temporary ban with an indefinite order.
“It marks another step towards puberty blockers being relegated to a shameful chapter of history, in which parents and health professionals were emotionally blackmailed into harming children in the name of ‘progress’.”
She said that Streeting needed “to ensure that private gender clinics are kept under close scrutiny” and listen to concerns about the NHS trial.
Streeting said the decision was based on evidence and not “political pressure”.
He said NHS England was “working with potential partner organisations to explore establishing a much-needed follow-through service for 17 to 25-year-olds”, which was recommended by Cass.
“We do not yet know the risks of stopping pubertal hormones at this critical life stage. That is the basis upon which I am making decisions. I am treading cautiously in this area because the safety of children must come first,” he told MPs.
“There are some who have called on the government not to go ahead with the clinical trial recommended by Dr Cass. Others on the opposite side of this debate want the government to ignore the recommendations of the independent expert Commission on Human Medicines.
“We are taking a different approach. The decisions we take will always be based on the evidence and advice of clinicians, not politics or political pressure.”
The Telegraph, London