‘Indefinite’ puberty blocker ban in place across UK

A UK-wide ban on the sale or supply of puberty-blocking drugs to gender-confused children has been extended ‘indefinitely’.

Announcing the end to existing temporary measures, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the decision was based on evidence that ‘the current prescribing pathway’ poses an “unacceptable safety risk” to children and young people.

The Stormont Executive approved an indefinite ban in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, and the Scottish Government has confirmed the policy will also apply north of the border.

Welcome decision

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

Welcoming the announcement, Dr Hilary Cass, who conducted an in-depth review of NHS child gender services, called puberty blockers “powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks”.

Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly described the decision as “the right approach, informed by medical and scientific advice”. She added: “The protection and safety of our young people must be paramount.”

Today, we in the Executive agreed to permanently ban puberty blockers for under-18s. This is the right approach, informed by medical and scientific advice. The protection and safety of our young people must be paramount. @duponline https://t.co/v5nThq3WEr

— Emma Little-Pengelly BL (@little_pengelly) December 10, 2024

Lara Brown, Senior Research Fellow in Culture and Identity at Policy Exchange, said Streeting had made “a brave and important call”. But she added that there remains “a great deal more to be done to implement the recommendations of the Cass Review and to row back the tide of gender ideology in our institutions”.

Unethical

In announcing the indefinite ban, Streeting repeated his commitment to “setting up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year”, as recommended by the Cass Review.

But campaigners have raised “significant practical and ethical” concerns about the proposal and are calling on him to pause the study and engage in “open and constructive dialogue”.

Signatories to a letter to the Health Secretary — including Transgender Trend, clinical psychologist Dr Carole Sherwood, Genspect UK and James Esses of Just Therapy — feared that the publication of the study protocol in December, and the start of recruitment in January, left “little time for affected parties to register potential objections”.

They also said that they did not believe children deemed eligible to take part in the study would be “capable of giving informed consent” and that consideration must be given to the “near 100% rate” of those who go onto cross-sex hormones after taking puberty blockers.