It's time to scrap blockers trial and safeguard kids

WHY DID the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, need a regulator to stop him putting children as young as eight on a medical pathway to sterilisation?

- By Claire Coutinho

Vulnerable youngsters could suffer irreversible damage to their bodies, including infertility, due to the trial

Last week our medicines regulator, the MHRA, spoke out about the government's trial which would have seen over 200 children struggling with their gender given puberty blocker drugs.The trial was “paused” after the MHRA raised grave concerns about the risk of long-term biological harm to the youngsters. The MHRA said the trial would “very likely” cause infertility and risks permanent bone damage, loss of brain function, and even vaginal bleeding in “very young children”.

They said it also risks putting children who are far too young on a pathway they couldn't possibly consent to.

None of this is new. The Conservatives, campaigners, and hundreds of health professionals have been warning about these risks for months. Almost 400 clinicians wrote to Wes Streeting and over 144,000 members of the public signed a petition urging the government to put an end to the trial.

Kemi Badenoch echoed those concerns in a letter cosigned by MPs from across the political spectrum. Yet still the government, in what has become a familiar pattern, stuck its fingers in its ears and pressed ahead.