I don’t think it has. The scandal in question is the fact that the NHS has changed its guidance on puberty blockers – public knowledge. The idea is that since Mermaids has been energetically pushing puberty blockers, they now don’t look so clever.
It’s amazing people didn’t bother using common sense on this one (which isn’t the be all/end all, but it’s somewhere science can start from): interfering with childhood development might, just might be a big deal and the idea of there being any sort of harmless pause button is utterly absurd.
BKiSA, the thing is, according to certain TRAs there is no definitive evidence that puberty blockers cause long-term harm. Which is technically true, but only because there have been no large, long-term studies into their effects when given to children developing at a normal rate. Because who has the time for lenghty drug trials and long-term, large-scale studies when feelz are at stake?
AoS, it would probably be difficult to get a study like that past an ethics committee, too. But in spite of that, we see people proposing doing something as a regular part of treatment that wouldn’t pass the smell test for a scientific ethics board.
It *still* galls me that otherwise-intelligent well-meaning people can swallow the claim that puberty blockers, alone among all medicines ever known, have absolutely no unintended consequences or negative effects. I’ve heard seriously smart people parrot this out loud without apparent shame.
Seth, it’s worse than that. The drugs used as puberty blockers have been used for other things long enough to know that they do have awful side effects, especially when used on children. It’s not like they just invented a new drug for trans purposes, they repurposed a problematic old one, at a time when enough evidence of its horrible effects on children were already apparent:
Women who used Lupron a decade or more ago to delay puberty or grow taller described the short-term side effects listed on the pediatric label: pain at the injection site, mood swings, and headaches. Yet they also described conditions that usually affect people much later in life. A 20-year-old from South Carolina was diagnosed with osteopenia, a thinning of the bones, while a 25-year-old from Pennsylvania has osteoporosis and a cracked spine. A 26-year-old in Massachusetts needed a total hip replacement. A 25-year-old in Wisconsin, like Derricott, has chronic pain and degenerative disc disease.
This stuff is horrifying. A substantial percentage of the children given it have life-long consequences. But if it’s used as part of transing children, it’s magically delicious?
Well, I’ve been needing some good news. Thanks.
I’m a little skeptical about this story. If there is some scandal about Mermaids, how has it reached celebrities before anyone else?
I don’t think it has. The scandal in question is the fact that the NHS has changed its guidance on puberty blockers – public knowledge. The idea is that since Mermaids has been energetically pushing puberty blockers, they now don’t look so clever.
It’s amazing people didn’t bother using common sense on this one (which isn’t the be all/end all, but it’s somewhere science can start from): interfering with childhood development might, just might be a big deal and the idea of there being any sort of harmless pause button is utterly absurd.
BKiSA, the thing is, according to certain TRAs there is no definitive evidence that puberty blockers cause long-term harm. Which is technically true, but only because there have been no large, long-term studies into their effects when given to children developing at a normal rate. Because who has the time for lenghty drug trials and long-term, large-scale studies when feelz are at stake?
AoS, it would probably be difficult to get a study like that past an ethics committee, too. But in spite of that, we see people proposing doing something as a regular part of treatment that wouldn’t pass the smell test for a scientific ethics board.
It *still* galls me that otherwise-intelligent well-meaning people can swallow the claim that puberty blockers, alone among all medicines ever known, have absolutely no unintended consequences or negative effects. I’ve heard seriously smart people parrot this out loud without apparent shame.
Seth, it’s worse than that. The drugs used as puberty blockers have been used for other things long enough to know that they do have awful side effects, especially when used on children. It’s not like they just invented a new drug for trans purposes, they repurposed a problematic old one, at a time when enough evidence of its horrible effects on children were already apparent:
https://www.statnews.com/2017/02/02/lupron-puberty-children-health-problems/
This stuff is horrifying. A substantial percentage of the children given it have life-long consequences. But if it’s used as part of transing children, it’s magically delicious?
https://www.hormonesmatter.com/lupron-precocious-puberty-decades-regulatory-silence/