Health Secretary Wes Streeting is allowing a trial of puberty blockers for children to go ahead despite confessing to being “uncomfortable” about the risks involved and receiving strong and widespread opposition.
The Pathways trial, recommended by the Cass Review (which examined NHS gender identity services for children and young people) was set to start in January. Concerns regarding the impact of the drugs include issues related to brain development, fertility, and bone density, as well as the subject of whether young children are capable of giving consent.
“It is hard to believe the Government is prepared to use children as guinea pigs for experiments with drugs that we know can be dangerous for them,” said Simon Calvert, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute. “The risks to fertility, bone density and brain maturation are well documented. The only reason this is going ahead is to placate the radical trans lobby. They do not care about the best interests of children, only their own extreme and increasingly unpopular political demands.”
