Health Secretary Wes Streeting, in a letter to the Conservatives, called on the Conservatives to maintain the cross-party consensus on gender identification services reached before the last election. Kemi Badenoch.
Streeting wrote to the Leader of the Opposition on Friday calling on her to “take the heat and ideology out of the debate” amid controversy over the trial of puberty blockers for children.
Both parties committed to implement the recommendations of a report by leading pediatrician Hilary Cass into gender identity services for children under 18 in England, published in April 2024, when Conservatives were in the government. Cass recommended research into a puberty blocker as part of a wider research program and supported a more “holistic” approach to treatment.
However, Badenoch and shadow health secretary Stuart Andrew wrote to Streeting on November 25 saying they were concerned National Health Service England supported clinical trials of drugs that stop natural puberty.
Cass found “surprisingly weak” evidence that the drugs were effective in treating gender-related disorders, adding that there was no strong evidence of long-term results.
She said the trial is the only way forward in trying to understand whether there are positive effects. The government has since banned treatments for children outside of clinical trials.
The new study will examine the effects of puberty blockers on more than 200 children with gender identity disorders, as part of a wider research project into possible treatment pathways. The £10.7 million study is being led by researchers from King's College London.
Streeting's intervention occurred despite the confession he is “deeply uncomfortable” with the medication which affects “a natural part of our human development.”
Puberty blockers prevent the body from producing certain hormones, including estrogen and testosterone. They were traditionally prescribed to children who entered puberty too early, but were later given to young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria and nonconformity.
Badenoch and Andrew told Streeting that the trial was based on “the discredited but apparently still entrenched belief in some quarters that a child can be 'born in the wrong body' or go through the 'wrong' period of puberty, and that normal puberty can be 'suspended' without causing irreparable harm to children.” They cited infertility and loss of sexual function as possible side effects.
Streeting expressed his doubts about the trial in an interview with LBC on Friday. “There's something about counteracting that. Drugs that delay or even stop a natural part of our human development, which is puberty, I'm very uncomfortable with,” he said.
However, he said he plans to follow clinical guidelines to continue the study. “We've gone through a lot of ethical approval to approve this type of research. So that's the basis on which we operate,” he said.
Responding to Badenoch and Andrew, Streeting said some children had gone to great lengths to find puberty blockers despite the ban, and that gender nonconformity was a “real and internationally recognized disorder” but that the condition was different from “girls and boys experimenting with gender norms, which for many children is a normal part of growing up.”
“Only clinical trials (and long-term follow-up) can determine what results can be attributed to these treatments, which will support evidence-based decisions about future treatments,” he said.
He also said the cross-party consensus on the Cass review when it was published last year was “key to taking some of the heat off an extremely sensitive issue without stifling debate where the welfare and safety of children must remain paramount.”
“Dr. Kass said at the release of her review that 'toxic, ideological and polarized public debate has made the work of the review much more difficult' and will hinder the research that is needed to find a way forward,” he said.
“We as members of the public have a responsibility to take the heat and ideology off this issue and ensure that children's health is always based on evidence and medical expertise.”
Badenoch and Andrew said in their letter to Streeting that the trial would not have a proper control panel, “creating obvious bias.”
In his response, Streeting said that this was incorrect and that a group of young people not receiving puberty blockers would also be studied by the researchers. He said those children would be “compared to trial participants in terms of performance.”
