Telegraph: Labour moves to ban puberty blockers permanently

[ResisterOfTwaddleRex]

Wes is getting it in the neck online from the TRAs. He should stand firm.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/12/labour-ban-puberty-blockers-permanently-trans-stance/

"A ban on puberty blockers could be made permanentt_ as the Labour party takes a harder stance on transgender issues, The Telegraph can reveal.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, intends to stop powerful hormone blockerss_ being given to children via any means, subject to the outcome of a legal hearing.
Laws to ban the blockers being supplied to children by private or off-shore clinics were passed by his predecessor, Victoria Atkins, in emergency legislation ahead of the general election.
These are due to expire on Sept 3 and the new Government has to decide whether to pass a law to make it permanent.._
It is understood that Labour will now seek to renew the ban with a view to making it permanent."

Why are people commenting on a tweet from 2021?

@RedToothBrush I think the suggestion is that Mayel is Jamil because they both have the same bogus high school story.

Mine is Nadia Whittome

I'm so sorry.

Isn't one of the risks of early puberty that children stop growing too soon? So PBs would delay the end of puberty so as to increase height. From my school days, the girls who were tallest in the class at age 10 were the shortest by 16.

I believe that is true for girls but not for boys. It's one of those pesky biological differences.

PB were prescribed on the NHS for unusually short girls in the mid 1990s as I knew a child who had them. She had numerous health issues by 30 which may or may not have been related.

Didn’t eunuch’s grow unusually tall because of the removal of their ability to make testosterone?

Might need to write it in block capitals then.

The research has shown that males taking puberty blockers are more likely to grow taller than the height they were predicted to reach if they didn’t take testosterone. of course this is the same for castrated boys.

Yes, long arms and legs and strange barrel chests. Interestingly (and predictably) early castration in dogs has a similar impact, except the chest shape is described as 'slab-sided' rather than properly rounded like a dog's ribcage should be.

Might need to draw it in Crayola.

That cannot have been in the UK. A friend's daughter is unusually short ( now a grown adult) and in the 1990's her lack of growth became a concern. Various drugs and treatments were offered, including breaking her legs, stretching them, and re-setting them - all of which my friend declined due to the obvious harmful side effects and brutality of the treatement options.

The claim these were pbs has been debunked, partly by the poster giving the name of the treatment programme these girls were put on. They were likely treated with massive doses of oestrogen, not puberty blockers (a vastly different type of drug). Awful but not puberty blockers.

https://www.sciencenorway.no/children-and-adolescents-forskningno-medical-methods/height-as-an-infliction/1388308

I mean, we have Cass. Extensive survey of all known literature about the effects of puberty blockers. This is what the review says under other physical health impacts:

14.43 Multiple studies included in the
systematic review of puberty suppression
(Taylor et al.: Puberty suppressants) found that
bone density is compromised during puberty
suppression, and height gain may lag behind
that seen in other adolescents. However, much
longer-term follow-up is needed to determine
whether there is full bone health recovery
in adulthood, both in those who go on to
masculinising/feminising hormones and those
who do not.
Clinical approach and clinical management
179
14.44 The same is true of other short-term
physical effects of puberty suppression, with
little knowledge about whether it leads to any
long-term effects, such as on metabolic health
and weight.

So seems highly unlikely there was a known use in the 90s for reducing adult height trajectories. Cass would have found those studies too.

Though in a thread about use of drugs off-label for an end (reducing impact of gender distress) which there isn't good evidence to back up, I guess we can't rule out someone in the 90s using the same drugs for a different end that there wasn't evidence to back up.

Only three Labour MPs attacking the potential decision to continue to ban puberty blockers so far I think. The usual suspects, but note a lot of other TRA MPs are not joining them so far. No Angela Eagle etc.

Nadia Whittome MP
Clive Lewis
Zarah Sultana

I think the old narrative has fallen apart. The Cass Review is too strong.

So looking better for the pro-women/kids side inside Labour on this front so far. Lots more battles to come though.

The conversion therapy front is going to be where a lot of fighting will concentrate. I think with Wes drafting it though chances are it will ban homophobic/religious conversion therapy while letting distressed kids have good advice. We shall see.

Wes Streeting:

x.com/wesstreeting/status/1812435914473295927?s=46&t=WHoOZ_3Kv5G6-FyQuvE0LQ

"Puberty Blockers. A 🧵

Children’s healthcare must always be led by evidence.

Medicine given to children must always be proven safe and effective first.

I know there’s lots of fear and anxiety.

Let me explain why this decision was taken.

1/9

Cass Review found there is not enough evidence about the long-term impact of puberty blockers for gender incongruence to know whether they are safe or not, nor which children might benefit from them.

The evidence should have been established before they were ever prescribed. 2/9

The NHS took the decision to stop the routine use of puberty blockers for gender incongruence/dysphoria in children.

They are establishing a clinical trial with NIHR to ensure the effects of puberty blockers can be safely monitored and provide the evidence we need.

3/9

The former Health Secretary issued an emergency order to extend the restriction on prescription to the private sector, which I am defending.

4/9

Puberty blockers have been used to delay puberty in children and young people who start puberty much too early.

Use in those cases has been extensively tested (a very different indication from use in gender dysphoria) and has met strict safety requirements.

5/9

This is because the puberty blockers are suppressing hormone levels that are abnormally high for the age of the child.

This is different to stopping the normal surge of hormones that occur in puberty. This affects children’s psychological and brain development.

6/9

We don’t yet know the risks of stopping pubertal hormones at this critical life stage.

That is the basis upon which I am making decisions.

I am treading cautiously in this area because the safety of children must come first.

7/9

Some of the public statements being made are highly irresponsible and could put vulnerable young people at risk.

I know there’s lots of fear and anxiety. I am determined to improve the quality of, and access to, care for trans people.

8/9

I hope this thread provides some context for the caution and care I am taking when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people.

The decisions I am taking will always be based on evidence, rather than politics or political pressure.

9/9"

I don't like the guy, but that's a good thread.

It looks as if a sensible civil servant has produced a clear summary and slapped it down in front of Streeting. 'I wouldn't argue with this if I were you....'

Really encouraging, thoughful approach by Wes Streeting. I've emailed him to show my support.

Gosh, it sounds like the grown ups are in charge. Not the first time I've said that in the last 10 days.
Some of the public statements being made are highly irresponsible and could put vulnerable young people at risk.
Damn right.

Oh God, my MP has come out all furious about this.

He's only been in 5 minutes, the area has been solid Tory since dinosaurs roamed the earth, and he's decided that this is the hill he should die on.

I should have known when he was a middle-aged man called Ian who thought we might not know what his pronouns were.

I think he may be deluded about why he got elected - we just wanted the Tories out.

Good for Wes Streeting. I agree with every word of that statement.

OvaHere · Yesterday 20:25

I don't know what these girls at your school were taking but it was unlikely to be puberty blockers.

I have a very slight knowledge of this, my ex has a daughter, who is very tall and was over 6 feet by the age of 12. She had some kind of human growth hormone excess and was put on treatment to suppress that - she stopped growing at 6' 5"

I've no idea what the drug was, but I'm willing to bet that someone here will.

And having gone through the next couple of pages, I see I'm right...