Pink News saying puberty blockers are “well studied, safe and completely reversible”?

“@Thefartingsiddenmarkstreet
The thing is, if puberty blockers stop your brain as well as your body from going through the developmental changes of puberty, then you don't 'become old enough' to make these decisions, because your brain hasn't gone through that maturation process.“

I am sure you are right. I know from reading about puppies who are neutered before they have matured that they lose various physical protections, and also never quite mature mentally.
(I spite if this must are neutered too soon.)

FFS anyone who had to take anything that alters natural level of
hormones or had issues with hormonal system (contraception pills, thyroid problems) knows that this is bullshit. It's been 60 years since the first contraceptive pill was made available, and they still cannot get it right so everyone can take it (some have no issues but there is still a lot of people who cannot take it). The idea we can just 'pause' such a complex process like puberty with no issues whatsoever is just naive to me.

Oh ffs.

It wouldn't even matter if they were reversible because 98/99 percent of kids who take them go onto hormones after.

And those are not reversible either.

Of they cares about trans kids they'd want this properly looked into and not just yell transphobe at anyone who is watery of giving toxic cancer treatment medication to kids witg healthy bodies

The medication is “well studied, safe and completely reversible”

No they aren’t. If Pink News cared about trans people and didn’t just hate women they would be campaigning for more research.

The medication has various uses including treatment of precocious puberty and treatment of endometriosis, and in both cases there are ongoing cases against the manufacturers because of side effects. And that’s before you get into whether it’s possible to stop and start puberty.

As it is the people who use them as puberty blockers are just treated as collateral damage.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Thanks x

Sorry to hear that, @DoubleTweenQueen. I am not an expert but this is what I think is the position. You would get good advice from Transgender Trend and the Bayswater Parents group.

If your child is deemed to have Gillick competence, they could consent to necessary medical treatment without your consent. Are puberty blockers 'necessary'? Arguable. Keira Bell's case would have made it necessary for the Tavistock GIDS clinic to get court approval for every under 16 prescribed puberty blockers. She won the first stage, but it was overturned on appeal. She's going to the Supreme Court now.

I don't believe a UK GP would prescribe blockers on the NHS. An endocrinologist should be involved. Private doctors might, but I can't imagine any UK school would facilitate that without reference to parents. Who would pay?

Waiting lists on the NHS are so long that I don't think you'd have much to worry about there, anyway.

Good luck.

Note the use of 'trans youth' to avoid the word children.

Youth is being used this way now.

Am in Uk, btw :)

Does anyone know - would parental consent be needed for a child to be put on puberty blockers? School seem to be affirming and enabling, without my knowledge or involvement so far.

Feel I need to arm myself, in case it gets to that. Thanks x

Having read a bit more of the blue book I linked above, it appears to meet the broad catagory of 'advertisement' (which includes magazine articles) which is prohibited for prescription drugs even if it what was said was correct and if these drugs were licensed for this use. As such a complaint needs to be made to MHRA. It looks like breaches can be a criminal matter as well as a civil one (depending)

I don't suppose PN belongs to IPSO, does it?

No it doesn't and iPSO don't give advice on what to do in this case but say you can call for advice
www.ipso.co.uk/complain/

Why I sued PinkNews
unherd.com/2021/11/why-i-sued-pinknews/

I don't suppose PN belongs to IPSO, does it?

A quick sKim suggests that this is relevant.

Oops
www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-guide-advertising-and-promoting-medicines

Not had a chance to look just now. But I wonder if this may be relevant:www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-guide-advertising-and-promoting-medicines

No, Eurochick, it's the problem. These people are actual idiots.

Actual idiots masquerading as journalists.

It would be funny if satire wasn't long dead.

Testosterone - is that really a treatment for pcos?

The medication is “well studied, safe and completely reversible” and simply delays puberty until a trans teenager is old enough to make decisions about having gender-affirming medical treatment."

The thing is, if puberty blockers stop your brain as well as your body from going through the developmental changes of puberty, then you don't 'become old enough' to make these decisions, because your brain hasn't gone through that maturation process.

I'd suggest asking the NUJ for their opinion on the quality of journalistic standards at PN - only, I'm not sure those writing there would meet the definition of "journalist"

Apparently women getting HRT for menopause is discrimatory too. Because it could save lives for Transwomen...

And abusing women is ok too.

They really don't do themselves any favours.

There's a long whiny paragraph describing how a man gets diagnostic tests from his GP before being prescribed testosterone gel and in the next paragraph the author complains that this means the man never had to get a diagnosis at all. Waa.

Idiots.

@TheWeeDonkey

Pink "News"?

After that car crash interview with Stephen Nolan I think even less of them than before.

I was hanging the laundry while listening to that episode, and physically stopped and felt my mouth fall open at Ben Cohen's idiocy.

That's a no, no and no.

Not safe, given the known life-changing side effects and the unknlwn longterm effects.

Not completely reversible, because there are a number of psychosocial effects that can never be reversed, and research in animal studies has shown that puberty blocking leads to permanent neurological changes even when they are discontinued. The extent of those changes depends on when puberty blockers are discontinued.

Not well studied. Not even when prescribed for precocious puberty.