Hilary Cass on Woman's Hour 9.10.24

Cass was known to have expressed anti-trans sentiments on social media.

Please post the links. Or, state exactly where they are and when she posted. Dr Cass doesn't strike me as someone who would do much posting on social media. Especially about clinical matters. So I would like to read those particular comments.

Oh, fantastic, thank you.

Again, please provide evidence of this. Your assertion is not evidence.

Cass was known to have expressed anti-trans sentiments on social media. Naturally, a transphobic government would choose someone whose views aligned with theirs.
All the links posted raise potential concerns that require further research, which is why a clinical trial is necessary.

For anyone who is interested in trial design, or evidence-based medicine and how it's evaluated, I strongly recommend the book, Testing Treatments, that is free to download and interactive.
https://www.testingtreatments.org/

I think it is fairy obvious why clinics deliberately kept no records, no data and refused to share what little they did have with Dr Cass. Very poor practice when using experimental drugs on children. IMO.

People who make assertions that are disliked by trans activists are automatically deemed 'transphobic'. It's just used as a slur, really.

Dr. Cass's anti trans views are precisely why she was chosen to lead the review

Any evidence for this assertion?

Yes, obviously, but I thought they also deliberately chose her as someone who wasn't either a total trans believer or non-believer. I thought her neutrality on this issue was one of the reasons. I must have read that somewhere but I can't remember where now.

Incredible to see the negative side effects that are known already for puberty blockers being dismissed here.

Puberty Blocker and Aging Impact on Testicular Cell States and Function

Varshini Murugesh, Megan Ritting, Salem Salem, Syed Mohammed Musheer Aalam, Joaquin Garcia, Asma J Chattha, Yulian Zhao, David JHF Knapp, Guruprasad Kalthur, Candace F Granberg, Nagarajan Kannan

March 27, 2024.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.03.23.586441v1.full

Abstract

Spermatogonial stem cell (SSC) acquisition of meiotogenetic state during puberty to produce genetically diverse gametes is blocked by drugs collectively referred as ‘puberty blocker’ (PB). Investigating the impact of PB on juvenile SSC state and function is challenging due to limited tissue access and clinical data. Herein, we report largest clinically annotated juvenile testicular biorepository with all children with gender dysphoria on chronic PB treatment highlighting shift in pediatric patient demography in US. At the tissue level, we report mild-to-severe sex gland atrophy in PB treated children. We developed most extensive integrated single-cell RNA dataset to date (>100K single cells; 25 patients), merging both public and novel (52 month PB-treated) datasets, alongside innovative computational approach tailed for germ cells and evaluated the impact of PB and aging on SSC. We report novel constitutional ranges for each testicular cell type across the entire age spectrum, distinct effects of treatments on prepubertal vs adult SSC, presence of spermatogenic epithelial cells exhibiting post-meiotic-state, irrespective of age, puberty status, or PB treatment. Further, we defined distinct effects of PB and aging on testicular cell lineage composition, and SSC meiotogenetic state and function. Using single cell data from prepubertal and young adult, we were able to accurately predict sexual maturity based both on overall cell type proportions, as well as on gene expression patterns within each major cell type. Applying these models to a PB-treated patient that they appeared pre-pubertal across the entire tissue. This combined with the noted gland atrophy and abnormalities from the histology data raise a potential concern regarding the complete ’reversibility’ and reproductive fitness of SSC. The biorepository, data, and research approach presented in this study provide unique opportunity to explore the impact of PB on testicular reproductive health.

And an article

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-13276501/Mayo-Clinic-puberty-blockers-trans-kids-fertility-cancer-medicine.html

I thought it was extensive experience and background in pediatrics.

I thought Dr Cass was chosen because she hadn't had any involvement at all with children with trans identities, so was coming from a completely neutral standpoint.

What anti-trans views? And how do you know Dr Cass had expressed any views about children declaring transgender identities before she started this project?

Can you give an example of another condition, in which it is enough for a child to declare that they have that condition, for a medical professional to agree and then administer life-changing medication?

And?

That is the case for many, many recognised conditions.

I guess a placebo based trial would be useless as it would be immediately obvious... hoping someone will come on who knows about trial formats.

Just listened to this.
Baroness Cass is amazingly calm, measured and professional.
I wonder how many children will sign up for the trial bearing in mind they presumably may receive a placebo.

The first paper is written by two prominent transphobes.

So? That's your own cognitive bias, I'm afraid. You not agreeing doesn't make the research worthless.

Of course there are proven side effects of the drugs known as puberty blockers.

Common side effects of the GnRH agonists and antagonists include symptoms of hypogonadism such as hot flashes, gynecomastia, fatigue, weight gain, fluid retention, erectile dysfunction and decreased libido. Long term therapy can result in metabolic abnormalities, weight gain, worsening of diabetes and osteoporosis.

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK547863/#:~:text=Common%20side%20effects%20of%20the,worsening%20of%20diabetes%20and%20osteoporosis.

Clinical trials aren’t conducted just to find side effects. They demonstrate benefits and disadvantages to treatments. When treatments have been evaluated, informed decisions can be made as to their use.

It’s shameful that, so far, no data has been collected so as to reliably evaluate the use of these very powerful drugs being prescribed off-label to treat a condition so ill-defined. (A likely reason for this is that most of the people involved in prescribing these treatments were aware that they had no benefit whatsoever.)

I'm not sure I understand the point you're making - if people you say are deemed to be transphobes point out that a particular set of powerful drugs are causing serious, lifelong side effects on a range of people when used for a range of reasons (on both adults and children), we shouldn't listen to them and should ignore any evidence produced for ideological reasons?

I believe it's referred to as burying bad news.

Well, this is the BBC.

No offence intended to the SW peninsula.

Dr. Cass's anti trans views are precisely why she was chosen to lead the review.

The first paper is written by two prominent transphobes. I can’t access the second. The third discusses very rare side effects, which can be an issue with any drug.