By Tyler Arnold
Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 14, 2024 / 16:22 pm
An English pediatrician who led a comprehensive review of the safety and efficacy of prescribing transgender drugs to children is warning that health associations in the United States may be misleading the public.
In an interview with the New York Times published on Monday, Dr. Hilary Cass warned there is no comprehensive evidence to support the routine prescription of transgender drugs to minors with gender dysphoria.
Cass published the independent “Cass Review,” commissioned by the National Health Service in England, which prompted England and Scotland to halt the prescription of transgender drugs to minors until more research is conducted.
As England, Scotland, and other European countries scale back their use of transgender drugs for minors, most doctors’ associations and health associations in the U.S. continue to endorse these medical interventions. In more than half of the states in the United States, it is still legal to prescribe transgender drugs to children and to perform transgender surgeries on them.
“What some organizations are doing is doubling down on saying the evidence is good,” Cass said in the interview. “And I think that’s where you’re misleading the public. You need to be honest about the strength of the evidence and say what you’re going to do to improve it.”
Speaking specifically about the American Academy of Pediatrics — which is the largest pediatric association in the country — Cass said the group “does massive good for children worldwide” but also “is fearful of making any moves that might jeopardize trans health care right now.”
She added: “I wonder whether, if they weren’t feeling under such political duress, they would be able to be more nuanced, to say that multiple truths exist in this space — that there are children who are going to need medical treatment, and that there are other children who are going to resolve their distress in different ways.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics announced it would undertake a “systematic review” of its guidelines in August 2023 but also reaffirmed its support for “gender-affirming care” for children, which includes the prescription of transgender drugs. The organization did not respond to CNA’s request for comment.
“I respectfully disagree with them on holding on to a position that is now demonstrated to be out of date by multiple systematic reviews,” Cass said in her New York Times interview.
Cass noted that her comprehensive review of studies related to the prescription of transgender drugs for minors found that “the evidence is very weak compared to many other areas of pediatric practice.”
“We have to stop just seeing these young people through the lens of their gender and see them as whole people and address the much broader range of challenges that they have, sometimes with their mental health, sometimes with undiagnosed neurodiversity,” Cass added. “It’s really about helping them to thrive, not just saying ‘How do we address the gender?’ in isolation.”
Mary Rice Hasson, the director of the Person and Identity Project at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, told CNA: “Cass’ rigorous evidence reviews, four years in the making, confirmed what Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway — all early adopters of medical ‘gender transitions’ in minors — discovered.”
“There’s no good evidence to support the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in identity-distressed kids,” Hasson said. “They need psychotherapy and holistic treatment — not the ‘fast-track’ to lifelong hormones and repeat surgeries.”
Hasson said: “The arrogance and deceit of the U.S. gender industry is shocking [because] they insist there’s nothing new in the Cass Review, which makes me wonder if they’ve even read it.” However, she said, “more likely, they are digging in their heels at the behest of trans activists and ideologically-driven funders.”
“It’s no secret that LGBTQ lobby groups have put tremendous pressure on U.S. health care to support ‘LGBTQ inclusion,’ particularly ‘transgender’ demands for body modification,” Hasson added.
In addition to the Cass Review — which was published in April — a series of other studies that were published this year call into question the efficacy of prescribing transgender drugs for and offering transgender surgeries to children.
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For example, a Mayo Clinic study from April found that puberty-blocking drugs may cause irreversible damage to testicular cells in young boys. A study out of the Netherlands that was published in February found that most children who have transgender inclinations will outgrow those feelings. A third study out of Finland found that transgender surgeries for minors do not reduce suicides in children and young adults who struggle with their gender identity.
