Victoria Atkins to introduce a banning order on puberty blockers under Section 62 of the Medicines Act 1968

[IwantToRetire]

Making a statement to the Commons, Ms Atkins said: “Today I want to set out my clear intention to introduce a banning order on puberty blockers, with limited exceptions, under Section 62 of the Medicines Act 1968.

“This is an extraordinary use of that power, but it is the right use of that power because we must protect our children and young people from this risk to their safety.”

Ms Atkins earlier said she had made it a “priority to protect our children who are questioning their identity in ever-increasing numbers”, referring to the Cass Review which she said “laid bare the damaging effect that social media and degrading pornography has had on young people’s sense of self”.

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/health-secretary-clear-intention-ban-165017964.html

I am assuming this means before the GE(?)

Only report I have seen was on a Canadian web site!

Also

x.com/cforwomenuk/status/1793619749332803818?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13454127/Health-Secretary-Victoria-Atkins-commits-banning-private-gender-clinics-prescribing-puberty-blockers-children.html

"Victoria Atkins told MPs she would bring in a banning order on puberty blockers under rarely-used provisions from the 1968 Medicines Act.
She admitted the 'extraordinary use of that power' was unusual, but added she had taken bold steps to protect the welfare of vulnerable children.
With her statement coming just a day after Rishi Sunak called a general election, a government source confirmed that Ms Atkins intended implementing the ban 'before dissolution' of the current parliament.
The source also confirmed the ban would apply to controversial private clinics including Gender GP, who vowed to defy NHS guidance on puberty blockers."

This is positive news - I'm starting to get really anxious about girls and women under Labour

Can it be got through? I thought Parliament wasn’t sitting now? Will it need to go thru Parliament?

Hope this happens. I really wish the other counter gender ideology measures could be introduced too. This election is happening too soon.

Not sure technically but this page says Parliament will be prorogued today

www.parliament.uk/business/news/2024/may/general-election-2024/

And then when it's dissolved, that is when no business happens

www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/general/dissolution/

Sounds like some things can still happen between now and it being dissolved?

I think the legislation is currently in place, and has been for a long time, and gives the power to ministers to make an order, so it may be the case that Parliament does not have to be involved:

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/67/section/62

My assumption is that this is putting a landmine in place for Labour to step on. Labour will be able to revoke the order but then will positively own the consequences should it result in harm to any children.

I just came to post this. Does anyone know if this is UK wide or just in England?

nauticant's links states that is a UK wide Act

Good - if it can happen.

This would be a very good solution if it can be done. I guess we will know soon.

I very much hope she succeeds in this.

I have no doubt that our children and grandchildren will look back at this crazed period in the history of the “developed world” when some adults thought it was acceptable to halt a child’s natural development and deem it to be absurd, cruel and 100% driven by a regressive, homophobic ideology.

Any parent who wants their child to be given PBs in the name of “changing sex” should be investigated by social services.

Sounds positive

Looks like the high tide mark for women and children is being set just before Labour go in the other direction

Victoria Atkins has known about this for a long time. She was at the debate on self-ID organised by Venice Allan and David TC Davies in Westminster Hall in 2018 - the first time MPs debated it (and incidentally when Layla Moran declared herself psychic.)

I was there and I remember her refusing to commit to anything, despite heavy pressure from the TRA side. I was impressed at the time.

This is good news. It also forces Labour to be open about their apparenty lack of interest in safeguarding children. Will they repeal it following demands from the trans extremists who dominate the party or not?

A Section 62 is a complete ban on the sale, supply and importation of a medicine. This means it cannot be used for any purpose. In this case the licenced indication for the medine is advanced prostate cancer. It is used "off label" for gender dysphoria and that has already been banned after Cass. So if this does happen men with prostate cancer will no longer have access to a life saving treatment as a Section 62 ban means exactly what it says. The medince is prohibited completely for any purpose. The clause was included in the medinines act after thalidomide, to ensure there was a mechanism to rapidly remove a medicine from sale or supply.

Is it? This sub section seems to say that caveats can be added. Presumably to avoid what would happen to cancer patients if it's a complete ban. Or, to correct the current situation whereby off label medicines are being given to children in spite of all we know as regards results.

"A prohibition imposed by order under this section may be a total prohibition or may be imposed subject to such exceptions as may be specified in the order."

Good woman!

If she does it I hope she gets an unusually high number of votes in the GE, to send a signal to whoever ends up in power after the election.

I'm no Tory but I thought Victoria Atkins was absolutely fantastic on this when the Cass review came out. To be fair I thought Wes Streeting was good too.

There's a lot of different aspects to the gender issue, but let's hope both parties are getting on board with halting the medicalisation of children and teens.

Couldn’t agree with you more on this. The speech she gave in the Commons after the Cass review was published was superb.

I see the TRA scaremongering has already started. You can no longer damage children, get over it.

Streeting's first response to Cass as regards the impact on people was this:

"There are trans adults in this country who have followed a medical pathway and who say that, for all the pain and difficulty that involved, it was not just life-affirming; it was lifesaving"

Playing into the suicide narrative. Children came way down his list in his response. And then of course it was about waiting lists, which is to either miss the point or purposely try to gloss over what has happened. The waiting lists are long because children were being directed to straight specialist services. Because GPs feared a backlash from not doing that. They were being referred direct from local authorities, schools, and charities.

And being referred for what? Harmful treatments that do not work and for which there is no evidence they ever did.

That's the scandal and if any politician of any stripe starts banging on about life saving treatments or waiting lists, ask serious questions of them.

If she manages to achieve this it will hopefully make it harder for things to slide back to where they were under Labour. It going to be hard for Labour to protect children even when the harm to children becomes much more evident because far too many of their MPs are gender ideologues.

I honestly think the medical transition of kids and young adults scandal is up there with the infected blood scandal. I hope people who have suffered from this get compensation much faster than those who suffered from being given infected blood. If you are on Twitter detransitioner Ritchie Herron has just posted a horrific and heartbreaking thread about his path to being castrated in a clinic in the UK. He was affirmed as a woman at every step and when he expressed regret following his surgery this was denied by his therapist. https://x.com/TullipR/status/1793660665426850225