Puberty blockers for trans youths are banned indefinitely in the United Kingdom after a review found an unacceptable safety risk

UK health secretary says it was ‘a scandal’ puberty blockers were given to vulnerable young children without proof of safety or effectiveness.

British Health Secretary Wes Streeting. Picture: Stefan Rousseau

The British government has banned the use of puberty blockers for children because they pose “an unacceptable safety risk’’.

Existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of ­puberty-suppressing hormones will be made indefinite, following advice from medical experts, Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT).

The ban will apply to England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and also makes it an offence for doctors outside of the UK to prescribe the blockers for British children suffering gender dysphoria.

Mr Streeting said he was listening to “clinicians, not politicians” and declared it a scandal that such drugs had been given to trans youths without proof they were safe or effective.

“Trans people feel unsafe, unrecognised and unheard and that must change,” he told the House of Commons.

“The (puberty blocker) medicine has been provided on grounds of insufficient evidence, and young people go without the care and support they need.

“That evidence should have been established before being prescribed for this purpose. It is a scandal such medicine (has been) given to vulnerable young children without proof it is safe, effective or through rigorous safe­guards of a clinical trial.”

Some fellow Labour MPs claimed his decision was discriminatory, but the decision was widely lauded among prominent gender-critical voices.

Feminist campaigner Helen Joyce said on X that Mr Streeting not only stood firm on the temporary ban on puberty blockers he inherited from the previous government, but he carefully closed loopholes and has now made it indefinite. “This despite a sustained campaign of lies and emotional blackmail,’’ she said.

She hailed the move as 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.

Author JK Rowling said: “Only one gay rights group had the courage to campaign against the use of puberty blockers for gender-confused children: @AllianceLGB. They fought for the right of gender-questioning kids to grow up with their bodies and fertility intact. Blockers have now been banned in the UK.”

The government’s indefinite ban comes after a targeted review was carried out in the past few months by the Commission on Human Medicines which found the drugs posed an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children.

The puberty blockers had been previously given to children who were questioning their gender but a temporary ban had been implemented in the wake of the explosive Cass Review which led to the closure of the controversial Tavistock Clinic.

Dr Hilary Cass said there was remarkably weak evidence to support the use of puberty blockers in children with gender dysphoria. She said allowing the blockers “may change the trajectory of psychosexual and gender identity development”.

The Mayo Clinic says the use of puberty blockers, known as gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues (GRHa), has been linked to reduced bone density, fertility issues, mood swings and in males cannot only impact on facial hair and reducing voice deepening, it can limit the growth of the penis, scrotum and testicles.

I'm dead impressed with @wesstreeting. He's not only stood firm on the temporary ban on puberty blockers he inherited from the previous government, but carefully closed loopholes and now made it indefinite. This despite a sustained campaign of lies and emotional blackmail

— Helen Joyce (@HJoyceGender) December 11, 2024

Only one gay rights group had the courage to campaign against the use of puberty blockers for gender-confused children: @AllianceLGB. They fought for the right of gender-questioning kids to grow up with their bodies and fertility intact. Blockers have now been banned in the UK. https://t.co/4vXPAakRYj

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 11, 2024

The blockers stop puberty by impacting the release of hormones from the pituitary gland. For females, it induces a menopause-like state, stopping menstruation and limiting breast development.

Patients may then consider gender-affirming hormone therapy causing some permanent changes that cannot be reversed.

Mr Streeting said the CHM was an independent body made up of leading clinicians and epidemiologists which advises on medicine safety.

“They took evidence directly from clinical experts, consultant pediatric endocrinologists and patient representatives, including representatives of trans people, young people and their families.

“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’,” he said.