Dr David Bell: Why I’m sounding the alarm on the next puberty blockers scandal

[IDareSay]

Dr David Bell:

"One of the core principles of medical research is that a clinical trial must seek to answer a question that cannot be resolved by other means. Yet in the case of puberty blockers, safer research avenues remain unexplored. We should be conducting robust long-term follow-up studies of those who have already undergone such treatment, qualitative research into the experiences of the growing numbers of detransitioners, and further animal studies to understand the biological impact of these drugs on adolescent brain development."

Link to 35 minute podcast in the article.

This man deserves the highest honours available.

telegraph.co.uk/gift/03d6f36941854567

Direct link to podcast:

linktr.ee/thedailytpodcast

Don’t subscribe to the Telegraph so haven’t read the article but thanks for the update.
I agree mostly but allowing carefully selected children access via a trial is a vast improvement on what was happening before. I got the impression there was so much bad practice going on in the past it might be difficult to trace previous cases

What should the criteria be for carefully selecting children to be sterilised and given osteoporosis, @DivorcedMumOfAdults ?

Not to mention the drop in IQ and loss of sexual feeling.

There's no upper limit on numbers in the trial. So not clear that they will be carefully selected (and how?). Potential for thus just being a reintroduction of unlimited PBs by a slightly more controlled route.

So pleased to see Dr Bell speaking out. I'm not surprised that the NHS are promoting this. They've been experimenting on children and young people for years with untested drugs and brutal surgery. Of course they want to justify all this with more unethical experiments on children.

I really think the NHS reckons they can fix the results and use them as a defence against the thousands of devastated detransitioners wanting compensation for their wrecked bodies, lives and future relationships.

Archive link for the DT article:

https://archive.ph/lCqdY

Allowing carefully selected children access via a trial was what they said they were doing last time. What makes you think it will be any different this time?

Really important article from a man with proven integrity. Bumping.

Now on YouTube

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Dr Bell says he cannot see how the trial can get past an ethical approval body, but he is concerned that it will. He says he is shocked that it is taking place. At the end of the video the Telegraph journalists pledge that the newspaper will be looking at the trial and asking questions of Wes Streeting about whether it is appropriate for the NHS to be holding trials of this sort

Good.

I think what has happened is that people, including doctors, have got it into their heads that this was a normative treatment that is now being questioned. They can't wrap their heads around the idea that it was completely unevidenced.

So that is the place they are starting from.

I read it. I think the word gift in the link means @IDareSay may have used the equivalent of a share token.

Yes. The NHS have been conducting an unethical social and medical experiment on mentally vulnerable children and young people with no evidence and promoted by queer theory political activists who have been given unprecedented (and dangerous) access to medical services.
It's hard to believe that an allegedly responsible national service has behaved in this way - but here we are.

Thanks for sharing the video.

The telegraph journalist Camilla Tominey claims she has been opposing trans ideology for some time. Does anyone know how far back she started? I've never heard of her. Not that I read the telegraph particularly.

I've seen her commenting about it - not sure for how long. Tbh - the Telegraph's reporting has been excellent in recent years. They've just successfully got a ruling from IPSO that they can call a man claiming to be woman taking a woman's place in a football team a man!

The Telegraph reports that Streeting's not going to stop the NHS ghouls from continuing to experiment on more children:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/03/08/wes-streeting-refuses-intervene-nhs-puberty-blocker-trial/

Archive link: https://archive.ph/mqopj

The difficulty is there is no way to “carefully select” children because there is currently no way to know which children will persist with feelings of “gender dysphoria” into adulthood. They know that if left a high proportion of children will grow to be comfortable in their sexed bodies once they have gone through puberty. They know that a disproportionately high number will become gay and lesbian adults but how do you predict the sexuality of a 12 year old to ensure you aren’t sterilising future gay / lesbian adults? It’ll be interesting to see the diagnostic criteria. I wonder if they’ve moved beyond “likes playing with toys of the other gender”. I wonder if they’ll treat ROGD children? Those who have suicidal ideation? Those who admit a same sex attraction? Those with ASD?

I'm not sure an ethical study is possible.
Having said that, I think attempting an ethical study is vital because it forces certain questions which I would like to see answered.
Who exactly would be eligible for this treatment and what exactly is being treated?
What other treatments are possible?
What does informed consent look like for such a treatment?
And how on earth can you take into account the confounding influence of the socio-cultural context on the researchers, health professionals, the children and the parents?

I am also not convinced that the approach of attacking/badgering Wes Streeting is helpful. Holding to account yes, scrutinising yes, framing him as refusing to intervene errr no. Refusing whose suggestion? Kemi Badenoch? Seems like political overshadowing. In other words it becomes about the political posturing and fighting rather than the matter at hand which is caring for distressed children. The dominant mode of activity becomes responding to threat rather than compassion. I'm not saying that isn't necessary sometimes but that in the interview David Bell manages to walk that line beautifully whereas the article today does not.