In the United States, over 20 states have passed laws banning experimental, irreversible so-called “gender-affirming” care for minors. Many of these states have also passed laws protecting women’s sports from so-called “transgender” athletes. The latest state to do this is Louisiana, and Ohio’s governor passed a similar Executive Order banning gender transition surgeries for children.
Lawmakers have implemented these policies in response to transgender activists who are pushing this type of harmful care on children. Now, one expert is speaking up about the detrimental effects of puberty blockers, which are typically prescribed to young children before they undergo hormone therapy or sex reassignment surgery.
Sallie Baxendale, professor of clinical neuropsychology at University College London, launched a study into the impacts of puberty blockers on children’s brain functions. Her findings show that these experimental drugs leave a “detrimental impact” on young children’s IQ levels (via Daily Mail):
A study, which looked at 25 girls being treated with the puberty blockers, found there was an average drop of seven points in their IQs.
One patient experienced a 'significant loss' of 15 points or more, Prof Baxendale said. The girls all suffered from 'precocious puberty' leading to the early onset of adulthood.
'Young people and their families are unable to give truly informed consent for these treatments as their doctors cannot tell them what the long-term effects on their cognitive development will be,' said Prof Baxendale.
An activist named Stephanie Davies-Arai of the organization Transgender Trend told the outlet that “proper long-term studies have never been done to prove they are safe.”
“It is a myth blockers are 'reversible' when given at the time of natural puberty. They prevent a critical period of growth and cognitive development,” Davies-Arai added.
The outlet noted that England’s NHS stopped “routinely” prescribing the drugs after a “damning review” found that the drugs could “interrupt the process of the brain maturing.”
Earlier this month, Daily Mail revealed that more than 70 children aged three and four were sent to the United Kingdom’s NHS dedicated pediatric transgender clinic before it was shut down, which Townhall covered.
At the time these numbers came out, Davies-Arai told Daily Mail that so-called “gender-affirming” care for children “has been pushed by transgender activists who have no understanding of perfectly normal childhood developmental stages.”
“What's really needed is sensible training for all NHS health professionals who can advise parents on ways to support their child to be happy as they are, without the need for future hormones or surgery,” Davies-Arai added.
The transgender clinic was shut down after a review slammed it’s long waiting lists and “lack of consensus about how the health service should assess, diagnose and treat young people seeking gender services,” Reuters noted.
Last year, when news broke that the Tavistock clinic would close its doors, the NHS issued a warning this week that most children who identify as “transgender” are going through a “transient phase," which Townhall reported.