Puberty blockers to be banned indefinitely for under-18s across UK (www.theguardian.com)
from HellsBelle@sh.itjust.works to world@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 16:21
https://sh.itjust.works/post/29340965

Puberty blockers for under-18s with gender dysphoria will be banned indefinitely across the UK except for use in clinical trials, the government has announced.

Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said that after receiving advice from medical experts, he would make existing emergency measures banning the sale and supply of puberty blockers indefinite.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) had published independent expert advice that there was “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.

#world

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HikingVet@lemmy.ca on 11 Dec 16:23 next collapse

“Medical Experts”

Buelldozer@lemmy.today on 11 Dec 17:29 next collapse

Here’s the biography and credentials of the primary expert: cass.independent-review.uk/…/the-chair/

I can understand being angry with what’s happening but I don’t believe there’s any question about that persons medical expertise and credentials.

HikingVet@lemmy.ca on 11 Dec 17:32 next collapse

Well, they have lost the credible part.

TOModera@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 17:52 collapse

Credentials sure, but Cass has also been found to follow anti Trans groups, threw out any positive study that wasn’t blind (which would have been unethical to run) and the report itself was influenced by a similar report originally done in Florida under Ron DeSantis. This is a biased report that started with a conclusion and ignored any evidence that disagreed.

anon6789@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 18:23 collapse

I don’t know about the issue enough for me to comment on if she is biased or not, but I found this NYT interview (archive.org link) and she really seems to try to be playing both sides to me. Her main arguement seems to be don’t treat this as an issue to resolve gender, that makes you ignore mental health/depression/other things, but with there not being the best care of that nature available for trans individuals, what avenue is left for them?

It sounds like she wants to go on about a lack of enough proof for her to stop treatment, but it also doesn’t sound like she has enough proof to say it’s harmful, but that doesn’t seem to discourage her helping eliminate it.

nonailsleft@lemm.ee on 12 Dec 11:43 collapse

Well her position doesn’t seem to be that she wants to eliminate it at all. She says the evidence is too weak for a general green light. She supports it being offered but as research:

There are young people who absolutely benefit from a medical pathway, and we need to make sure that those young people have access — under a research protocol, because we need to improve the research — but not assume that that’s the right pathway for everyone.

Also:

I think there is an appreciation that we are not about closing down health care for children. But there is fearfulness — about health care being shut down, and also about the report being weaponized to suggest that trans people don’t exist. And that’s really disappointing to me that that happens, because that’s absolutely not what we’re saying.

anon6789@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 14:27 collapse

She makes it hard to feel out what her actual position is, which in a way is probably what she should do, but is also very frustrating because being on neither side feels disingenuous as a default these days. I don’t know enough about her to really feel I know for sure.

We had decades (centuries?) of people not getting this care. There were definitely negatives to that. We’ve had maybe now a couple decades of increasing HRT/puberty blocker stuff. I’ve heard positive stories. Everything makes it sound reversible should the need arise. Everything against it seems to not be evenly distributed across the political spectrum so walking it back feels political based on what I’ve heard cumulatively.

Keeping it as research seems it would greatly reduce its availability, and if it causes people to suffer or die, that’s not something that can be taken back, unlike stopping hormone treatment or puberty blockers seems to be. That’s the part that concerns me.

I don’t know much about the issues, but I try to stay informed, so I don’t want to go trashing this lady’s report. From all I’ve read though, a lot of doctors already have to sign off on patients before it comes to these treatments, so canceling that now seems to overrule a wide range of medical and mental doctors for a dubious position.

nonailsleft@lemm.ee on 12 Dec 19:15 collapse

Keeping it as research seems it would greatly reduce its availability, and if it causes people to suffer or die, that’s not something that can be taken back, unlike stopping hormone treatment or puberty blockers seems to be. That’s the part that concerns me.

Well I can certainly recommend reading the interview then. One of the things mentioned is that she considers, after her research, this hormone treatment as having irreversible effects.

That’s something I always see people dancing around, sometimes saying ‘mostly’ reversible or something… Being (‘mostly’) irreversible has an enormous ethical impact. She also mentions having taken into consideration the long term psychological effects but that the research on that just isn’t strong enough to give a clear-cut advice

anon6789@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 20:46 next collapse

I read the interview as a 380 page paper on a subject I don’t really understand seemed a bit ambitious. I linked it, as I didnt know who did the report, and I wanted to hear her summary in her own words.

The comments here are full of people defending one side or the other, but no one seems to be providing any sources. This seems to be a difficult subject to approach if one isn’t seeking to affirm an existing stance. Both sides just seem to say “show me the proof” back and forth because neither will acknowledge the other.

You seem to be at least leaning in favor of the report. If you have any noob appropriate links to supporting info, I’d look at them.

barsoap@lemm.ee on 12 Dec 21:08 collapse

Full-fledged hormone blocking + replacement certainly is about as much reversible as puberty, that is, not really. E.g. once boobs grow having tons of testosterone in your system won’t make them go away, only surgery will (did you know that the most common cosmetic surgery for cis men is breast reduction, btw?). Some stuff self-medicating enbies are doing should be reversible, like not blocking testosterone and taking oestrogen for smoother skin.

Anyhow the earliest anyone is going to get hormone treatment is 16, and that’s in Germany for clear cases with a judge having a second look at everything. Generally it’s 18. Puberty blockers don’t even need to be reversed you just stop taking them and the puberty comes, side-effects from late puberty are benign and/or manageable. Like, in a risk weighting we’re talking about being 2cm smaller than you could have been vs. suicide, it’s not even a competition.

dotslashme@infosec.pub on 11 Dec 16:55 next collapse

So puberty blockers are not legal until puberty is over? Makes complete sense /s

NOT_RICK@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 17:06 next collapse

Care to elaborate on the safety risks there, Wes?

n2burns@lemmy.ca on 11 Dec 17:24 next collapse

While I don’t agree with it’s findings, there is a 388-page report this decision is based on.

cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 11 Dec 18:11 collapse

that was debunked numerous times

n2burns@lemmy.ca on 11 Dec 18:46 next collapse

What was the debunked? That a report exists?

cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 11 Dec 19:27 next collapse

the entire points of the report were debunked… like a lot

n2burns@lemmy.ca on 11 Dec 19:38 next collapse

K…I started my original comment with, “While I don’t agree with it’s findings,” and was responding to a comment asking for elaboration on the safety risks. I was just providing context, not stating the report was gospel-truth or anything.

STOMPYI@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 22:55 collapse

Wait… are you saying you are a messenger? GET HIM!!!1111

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 06:26 collapse

Can you highlight the main errors of the report?

cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 12 Dec 13:05 collapse

well considering the author, herself, backpeddled

erininthemorning.com/…/dr-cass-backpedals-from-re…

nickhammes@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 19:38 collapse

The report exists, but it has so many errors, misinterpreting its own data to bend to the conclusions its authors decided they wanted to find, lots of cherry picking, and ignoring any fact inconvenient to its conclusions.

Imagine a paper that concludes that dowsing or homeopathy is good science. It’s about that accurate.

Adanisi@lemmy.zip on 12 Dec 05:13 next collapse

Also it was commissioned by the Tories, to be done by a woman who before even starting her research for the report, was clearly biased against trans people.

P1nkman@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 08:57 collapse

If you manipulate the data, a lie will sell itself.

jimmy90@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 08:55 collapse

link the debunking pls

veganpizza69@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 12:02 collapse

A review of the infamous CASS report:

Results from 5 uncontrolled, observational studies suggest that, in children and adolescents with gender dysphoria, gender-affirming hormones are likely to improve symptoms of gender dysphoria, and may also improve depression, anxiety, quality of life, suicidality, and psychosocial functioning. The impact of treatment on body image is unclear. All results were of very low certainty using modified GRADE

Safety outcomes were reported in 5 observational studies. Statistically significant increases in some measures of bone density were seen following treatment with gender-affirming hormones, although results varied by bone region (lumber spine versus femoral neck) and by population (transfemales versus transmales). However, z-scores suggest that bone density remained lower in transfemales and transmales compared with an equivalent cisgender population. Results from 1 study of gender-affirming hormones started during adolescence reported statistically significant increases in blood pressure and body mass index, and worsening of the lipid profile (in transmales) at age 22 years, although longer term studies that report on cardiovascular event rates are required. Adverse events and discontinuation rates associated with gender-affirming hormones were only reported in 1 study, and no conclusions can be made on these outcomes.

This document was prepared in October 2020

Evidence review (.PDF): Gender-affirming hormones for children and adolescents with gender dysphoria cass.independent-review.uk/…/20220726_Evidence-re…

Other reading:

Fact Check: New York Times Publishes Misleading Story On Puberty Blocker Study

Gender-affirming care can improve mental health outcomes in transgender youth | Department of Epidemiology

Watching:

Exposing the Dangers of Anti-Trans Fascism | RE: The Cass Review & Labour’s Downfall

missingno@fedia.io on 11 Dec 17:08 next collapse

What do they think puberty blockers do?

catloaf@lemm.ee on 11 Dec 18:02 collapse

think

I’m gonna stop you right there, no useful thought process was involved here at all.

BlackLaZoR@fedia.io on 11 Dec 17:14 next collapse

Commission on Human Medicines (CHM) had published independent expert advice that there was “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.

Wait, that means Trump was right?

imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee on 11 Dec 21:09 collapse

No.

n2burns@lemmy.ca on 11 Dec 17:21 next collapse

Puberty blockers to be banned indefinitely for under-18s with gender dysphoria across UK

I fixed the title. Of course, they’re still available for other medical conditions, they’re just singling out gender dysphoria.

LuckingFurker@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 11 Dec 17:21 next collapse

Wes Streeting is pro child self-harm, at least as long as those children are trans. Fucking scum

TheBananaKing@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 20:57 next collapse

evil fucking bastards

[deleted] on 11 Dec 20:59 next collapse
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[deleted] on 11 Dec 22:04 next collapse
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catloaf@lemm.ee on 11 Dec 22:12 collapse

How is denying scientifically proven medical care “common sense”?

ZK686@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 02:02 collapse

Because kids under the age of 18 shouldn’t be allowed to use these types of medications. I just don’t think we’re fully aware of the consequences at that age. I mean, I did a ton of stupid shit when I was a kid… didn’t we all? I look back and think, WTF was I thinking?

EDIT: my comment that was removed literally said “common sense”. Y’all getting worse than Reddit…

catloaf@lemm.ee on 12 Dec 04:38 next collapse

Are the unknown consequences more or less severe than depression, self-harm, and suicide?

[deleted] on 14 Dec 01:39 collapse
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jordanlund@lemmy.world on 14 Dec 05:49 collapse

You’re equating a legitimate, recognized medical condition with teenage rebellion. Please educate yourself.

www.mayoclinic.org/…/syc-20353938

www.psychiatry.org/…/what-is-gender-dysphoria

Removed for transphobia.

Duke_Nukem_1990@feddit.org on 12 Dec 08:41 next collapse

I just don’t think we’re fully aware of the consequences at that age.

It gives “We just don’t know if 5G is dangerous and unhealthy!!!”

barsoap@lemm.ee on 12 Dec 11:31 collapse

We understand the effects and risks of puberty blockers very well, they’ve been in use since the 80s to delay early-onset puberties. The risks are known, can be managed (e.g. making sure patients have plenty of calcium to offset bone density issues), and definitely way less severe than depression, self-harm, and suicide.

It is thus common sense to do the exact opposite of what the UK is doing. What you wanted to say is probably “uninformed median voter BS”, which is also common but not as sensible given that it’s uninformed, and BS.

jordanlund@lemmy.world on 11 Dec 22:38 next collapse

Unacceptable safety risk in trans kids feeling comfortable with who they are as human beings.

vivavideri@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 00:51 next collapse

Ouch.

indomara@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 06:21 next collapse

WTF puberty blockers aren’t used for only trans kids. They are also used to treat precocious puberty.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precocious_puberty

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 06:27 collapse

That’s still legal. Only banned for gender dysmorphia.

indomara@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 08:50 next collapse

That is messed up as heck.

Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 12 Dec 09:29 collapse

*dysphoria

different word, common mistake

febra@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 07:44 next collapse

These monsters just hate trans kids so much. TERF island strikes again.

Default_Defect@midwest.social on 12 Dec 11:21 next collapse

Next they’re gonna make Harry Potter mandatory reading.

MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml on 12 Dec 13:21 collapse

That’s not for them to decide, they’re not the experts.

Lauchs@lemmy.world on 12 Dec 19:33 collapse

They are acting upon the recommendation of the largest systematic review of the evidence in the UK to date.

theguardian.com/…/what-are-the-key-findings-of-th…

The plan is " to set up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year and to recruit the first patients by spring. Streeting said the study would help “establish a clear evidence base for the use of this medicine”."

Essentially, the research on this has been so polarized, the results so conflicting and the science riddled with terrible methodology etc that the government is saying “fuck it, we’ll establish our own gigantic study.”