Britain bans private prescriptions of puberty blockers to kids, citing 'serious danger to health'
Britain has managed in recent months to break the stranglehold of gender ideology. This liberation has been expedited by the April release of Dr. Hilary Cass' final report entitled, "The Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People."
The report, the result of a multiyear investigation now referred to as the Cass Review, was commissioned by National Health Service England in 2020. To the chagrin of LGBT activists and other radicals, the Cass Review effectively demolished gender ideologues' arguments in favor of genital mutilation, puberty blockers, and other so-called "gender-affirming care."
The Cass Review noted, for instance, that the "systematic review showed no clear evidence that social transition in childhood has any positive or negative mental health outcomes, and relatively weak evidence for any effect in adolescence."
It also indicated that while puberty blockers "exert their intended effect in suppressing puberty," they compromise bone density and have no apparent impact on "gender dysphoria or body satisfaction."
Among the report's various recommendations was a call for a moratorium on prescriptions of puberty blockers to kids.
The British government heeded Cass' suggestion this week, banning puberty blockers in private clinics.
'Today I have taken bold action to protect children.'
British Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Victoria Atkins tweeted, "Today I have taken bold action to protect children following the Cass Review, using emergency powers to ban puberty blockers for new treatments of gender dysphoria from private clinics and for all purposes from overseas prescribers into Great Britain."
The drugs in question, luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone agonists, also known as GnRHa, have long been used to chemically castrate sex offenders.
Blaze News previously reported that these sex offender drugs were rebranded in recent years as puberty blockers and offered to confused children despite evidence showing that such treatments deplete victims' bone density, create sexless adults, hamper cognitive development, and produce mood disorders.
National Health Service England banned them in public clinics in March, recognizing them as neither safe nor effective.
The health minister's Wednesday order, "The Medicines (Gonadotrophin-Releasing Hormone Analogues) (Emergency Prohibition) (England, Wales and Scotland) Order 2024," will now spare children from the sex offender drugs outside the government system as well, prohibiting the sale or supply of GnRH analogues.
The order, which goes into effect on June 3, states that the ban is necessary "to avoid serious danger to health."
"Our children deserve health care that is compassionate, caring, and careful, and that is what a Conservative Government would deliver," said Atkins, who indicated the ban will also close prescription loopholes.
Gender ideologues and other radicals sporting pronouns in their profiles lashed out at Atkins as they had at Cass, recycling the now-debunked claims about "gender-affirming care" saving lives.
Chris Noone, a researcher at the University of Galway and a board member on the National LGBT Federation, for instance, said the government's decision to protect children from sex offender drugs was "cruel, heartless & rash. The Cass Review should not dictate policy considering its serious flaws & you have now suddenly taken away a vital support for many children without considering the very likely & very significant harm you will cause them."
The ban was celebrated by others, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who wrote, "This is very welcome. I've met parents in Fareham whose children were put on puberty blockers, regretting it years later. Children must not be placed on puberty blockers as a way of treating gender dysphoria. Child safeguarding must always come first, not gender ideology."
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