{"id":21306,"date":"2025-01-31T15:52:27","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:52:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21306"},"modified":"2025-01-31T17:28:38","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T17:28:38","slug":"campaigner-launches-bid-to-ban-cross-sex-hormones-for-under-18s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medexperts.pro\/?p=21306","title":{"rendered":"Campaigner launches bid to ban cross-sex hormones for under-18s"},"content":{"rendered":"
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35 minutes ago<\/div>\n
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Hugh Pym and Nick Triggle<\/span><\/p>\n

BBC News<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"BBCBBC News<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
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Health Secretary Wes Streeting is being threatened with legal action if he does not ban the private sale of cross-sex hormones such as testosterone to under 18s. <\/p>\n

Lawyers acting for three people – including campaigner Keira Bell – have written to Streeting urging him to introduce a ban as he has done for puberty blockers for children questioning their gender identity.<\/p>\n

Ms Bell says her life has been “flipped upside down” by taking the drugs that have some irreversible effects. The other two people involved are parents and wish to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n

Cross-sex hormone therapy is used to help people transition to a different gender from the one they were born into.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In December the health secretary announced an indefinite ban on puberty-suppressing drugs for gender dysphoria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But in a letter sent by Sinclairs Law, Streeting has been told the law firm will seek a judicial review – a way of challenging the lawfulness of a decision by a public body – unless he follows suit with cross-sex hormones.<\/p>\n

The lawyers said private clinics are providing these to under 18s, despite the fact that they pose at least an equal risk as puberty blockers.<\/p>\n

The letter, seen by the BBC, points to potential health risks to children’s developing brains, bones and reproductive system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Keira Bell has previously taken legal action against the NHS – after her treatment when she was a teenager more than a decade ago at what was then the only NHS gender clinic.<\/p>\n

She was given puberty blockers at 16 and then the male hormone testosterone at 17 before having surgery to remove her breasts.<\/p>\n

Ms Bell, 28, told BBC News: “I was very vulnerable and was dealing with a lot of issues.<\/p>\n

“With cross-sex hormones… it changes not only your physical and mental state, but also your social state, especially for females who are taking testosterone. I’m one of those people.”<\/p>\n

The hormones can cause irreversible effects, such as voice deepening. <\/p>\n

She said: “My whole life has been flipped upside down and there’s no way back from it.”<\/p>\n

Ms Bell says she wants to protect other young people from going through similar regret. <\/p>\n

“Things can feel very urgent so it is important for young people to remember that your whole life is ahead of you.<\/p>\n

“This sort of protection needs to be put into law,” she says. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Paul Conrathe, the lawyer who is representing Ms Bell and the two other individuals, said: “Given what we know about the unscrupulous and harmful practices of unregulated overseas gender clinics it is remarkable that the secretary of state has not banned the prescription of cross-sex hormones.<\/p>\n

“He banned puberty blockers, but failed to ban even more harmful cross-sex hormones that expose children to irreversible lifelong changes.<\/p>\n

“This harmful trade continues unashamed and emboldened at the failure of the government to protect vulnerable children.”<\/p>\n

The Department of Health and Social Care did not respond directly to the threat of a judicial review, but said it was working with regulators to tighten up rules around private provision of cross-sex hormones.<\/p>\n

A spokesman pointed out that the landmark Cass Review into gender care published last year did not call for a ban of cross-sex hormones for those aged 16 to 18.<\/p>\n

He added that “additional safeguards” were being put in place in the NHS with a group of health professionals now reviewing cases before cross-sex hormones are given to young people.<\/p>\n

The NHS can prescribe cross-sex hormones to under 18s.<\/p>\n

But the Cass Review found that there was a lack of research and “weak evidence” for medical interventions.<\/p>\n

As a result, NHS England wrote to all NHS gender clinics saying “extreme caution” should be exercised before recommending cross-sex hormones for under 18s.<\/p>\n

Changes are being made to the way NHS gender services for children are run with a move away from medical interventions and a greater focus on wider needs, including with mental health. Puberty blockers are no longer used by them at all – except in clinical trials.<\/p>\n

The legal move comes as the courts continue to hear the case involving a mother who is trying to stop her 16-year-old being given cross-sex hormones to change their gender<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The case will return to the High Court on Friday.<\/p>\n

Between the ages of 16 and 18, whilst not legally an adult, a young person is usually viewed as being able to make their own medical decisions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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