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Family First NZ has written to the Associate Minister of Health Matt Doocey requiring an explanation of why the government continues to fail to take action on the findings of the Ministry of Health’s evidence brief which clearly indicates that the use of puberty blockers must be restricted for those under 18 years of age.
As a result of further legal advice obtained by Family First:
- the government must regulate under section 105 of the Medicines Act to restrict the off-label prescribing of puberty blockers for those under 18 years of age.
- the Ministry of Health continues to contradict its own evidence brief by continuing to rely on, and refer people too, the PATHA guidelines.
- the government is breaching rights and freedoms under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act (NZBORA) by failing to protect gender dysmorphic children and teenagers against the prescribing of puberty blockers that have no quality evidence of safety, efficacy, or reversibility.
- we also reminded the minister that consent is not possible when there is insufficient evidence about the efficacy of the treatment or the resultant complications following use of puberty blockers; put another way, it is impossible for anyone – let alone an under-16 – to consent to a treatment that itself is not understood nor has sufficient evidence to support it.
Family First’s position remains that there should be an immediate end to new prescribing of puberty blockers due to the clear lack of quality probative evidence of efficacy and safety. Existing users need to be transitioned from puberty blockers in a medically appropriate way or, at the very least, have the lack of quality evidence on safety, efficacy and reversibility explained to them with a view to confirming they and their parents or guardians do provide informed consent. This in turn also means the ministry’s position statement must be updated immediately to remove the factually incorrect statements regarding efficacy, safety, and future risks, including any references to the PATHA guidelines.
READ THE FULL LETTER TO THE ASSOCIATE MINISTER
This press release was originally published by Family First New Zealand.
