UK bans puberty blockers for under 18s

Controversial puberty blockers have been banned in one country with the health secretary calling them an “unacceptable risk” to young teens.

Britain has banned puberty blockers for under-18s who believe they are transgender.

The super-strong sex hormones can no longer be prescribed to new patients.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told MPs the independent Commission on Human Medicines had ruled they posed an “unacceptable safety risk” to children and teenagers.

Mr Streeting said: “It is a scandal that medicine was given to vulnerable young children without proof that it is safe or effective.”

The country’s leading gender clinic, the Tavistock and Portman NHS Trust, was shut down this year due to safety fears.

Britain’s health secretary said it was a “scandal” that puberty blockers were given to teens and children.

A review has since found that children were put at risk with prescriptions for puberty-suppressing hormones, which can permanently change their development.

Dr Hilary Cass’s review said that any evidence of their benefits was “remarkably weak”.

Former Conservative Health Secretary Victoria Atkins outlawed the drugs in the summer and Mr Streeting has now extended the ban indefinitely for both NHS and private clinics.

He said: “We are working with NHS England to open new gender identity services so people can access the support they need.

NHS director James Palmer said: “We welcome the government’s decision to ban access through private prescribers, which closes a loophole that posed a risk to children and young people.”

Puberty blockers are still legal in Australia and states are unlikely to follow the UK in banning them.

Earlier this year an independent review commissioned by the NSW government found that puberty suppression treatment is “safe, effective and reversible”..

However the report also called for more long-term quality research, acknowledging the strength of evidence is low.

- With The Sun

Originally published as UK bans puberty blockers for under 18s