UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting told members of Parliament that he was extending the temporary ban on puberty blockers that was introduced in May following a consultation and advice from the Commission on Human Medicines, the BBC reported.
Streeting—a member of the LGBTQ+ community himself—called the way the drugs had been used a “scandal.” He announced the indefinite ban after the Commission on Human Medicines found there is “an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children,” The Independent noted.
A review by the commission revealed that children were prescribed the medication having completed an online questionnaire and having had one Zoom call.
The Scottish government confirmed that the ban would apply across England, Scotland and Wales. A government spokesperson said, “The UK government has laid legislation to put in place an indefinite ban on new children and young people aged under 18 years from beginning to take puberty blockers for the purposes of gender incongruence and/or gender dysphoria, under the care of private or non-UK prescribers.”
In March, the NHS (National Health Service) announced that children would no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics, with the then-Conservative government saying this development was in the “best interests of the child.” In April, following the release of England’s Cass Review, Scotland’s NHS paused prescribing puberty blockers to children referred by its specialist gender clinic; Dr. Hilary Cass’ review said children had been let down by a lack of research and there was “remarkably weak” evidence on medical interventions.
More than 6,200 children and young people are on the UK’s gender services’ waiting lists.
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