> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://goodoil.news/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Treatment for Trans Children Should Be Reviewed
- URL: https://goodoil.news/treatment-for-trans-children-should-be-reviewed/
- Published: 2022-06-29T21:42:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-07-19T17:02:21.000Z
- Author: Press Releases
- Tags: Health, NZ, NZ Politics, Politics, Press Releases, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2024-07-16 23:04

**Family First**

In a significant development, the UK’s Tavistock transgender clinic is to be shut down by the NHS after a review [found it is “not safe” for children](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/07/28/tavistock-transgender-clinic-shut-nhs-review-finds-not-safe/?WT.mc%5Fid=e%5FDM14043&WT.tsrc=email&etype=Edi%5FFPM%5FNew&utmsource=email&utm%5Fmedium=Edi%5FFPM%5FNew20220728&utm%5Fcampaign=DM14043&ref=goodoil.news), and that there is insufficient evidence to recommend puberty blockers.

According to media reports, NHS England will move young people who believe that they are trans into regional centres which will take a more “holistic” approach to treatment and look at other mental health or medical issues they may have. The decision is a response to a review which warned that medics at Tavistock had felt “under pressure to adopt an unquestioning affirmative approach” to gender identity rather than going through the normal process of clinic assessment with young people.

Family First is calling on the New Zealand government to pause the use of puberty blockers for teenagers while further research is undertaken, a sentiment supported by a majority of New Zealanders and an increasing number of medical groups.

Professor Christopher Gillberg, an expert in child and adolescent psychiatry, and who [gave expert evidence in the British High Court](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9130157/The-physicians-testimony-led-High-Court-judge-ban-child-puberty-blocker-drugs.html?ref=goodoil.news), believes prescribing drugs to delay puberty is a scandal and tantamount to conducting ‘a live experiment’ on vulnerable children. He said ‘In my years as a physician, I cannot remember an issue of greater significance for the practice of medicine. We have left established evidence-based clinical practice and are using powerful life-altering medication for a vulnerable group of adolescents and children based upon a belief.’

Prof Gillberg and other leading medical experts revealed:

- Puberty-halting drugs can harm a patient’s brain and bone development;
- Medics are failing to warn about the infertility risks posed by puberty blockers;
- Children who regret treatment find themselves ‘locked’ into new bodies;
- Internet sites persuade autistic children they are transgender when they simply have ‘identity issues’.

Medical professionals and medical groups – including [The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists (RANZCP)](https://www.ranzcp.org/news-policy/policy-and-advocacy/position-statements/gender-dysphoria?ref=goodoil.news) – are sounding growing international concern around the use of puberty blockers to treat young people with gender dysphoria because of the low certainty of benefits but the significant potential for medical harm.

Britain’s NHS [recently withdrew a claim](https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-nhs-has-quietly-changed-its-trans-guidance-to-reflect-reality?ref=goodoil.news) that the effects of puberty blockers are “fully reversible” – a [claim recently made](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzySRneHwpw&ref=goodoil.news) on TVNZ’s *Sunday* programme, but challenged by [experts](https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2021/03/controversy-brewing-over-transgender-children-s-access-to-puberty-blockers.html?ref=goodoil.news).

Sweden’s leading gender clinic – Stockholm’s Astrid Lindgren children’s hospital – recently [ended routine treatment of minors](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/swedish-clinic-moves-first-to-halt-trans-drugs-for-children/news-story/e5c0f675c789bbabe6fe9599688238c3?ref=goodoil.news) under the age of 18 with puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, and may only be provided in a research setting approved by Sweden’s ethics review board.

In Australia, *The Australian* [reported](https://www.theaustralian.com.au/science/gender-doctors-pressed-to-give-drugs/news-story/c5129496d4e8fcbe16135b92f4a8bea7?ref=goodoil.news) on a new paper involving gender clinic staff from [The Children’s Hospital](https://www.schn.health.nsw.gov.au/hospitals/chw?ref=goodoil.news) at Westmead in Sydney, which says that “gender clinicians are under increasing pressure to enable ‘conveyor belt’ medicalisation of children who arrive already convinced that hormonal drugs are the only solution to their distress. In the Westmead study, there were high rates of anxiety, depression, suicidal ideas, behavioural disorders, autism and “adverse childhood experiences” such as family conflict, exposure to domestic violence, parents with mental illness, loss of important figures through separation, and bullying. The authors say; “(Yet) families tended to medicalise the child’s distress, attributing it solely to gender dysphoria as an isolated phenomenon, with the consequence that the family identified the medical pathway as providing the only potential way forward.”

Finland [revised its treatment guidelines](https://palveluvalikoima.fi/en/recommendations?ref=goodoil.news) in June 2020, prioritising psychological interventions and support over medical interventions, particularly for youth with post-pubertal onset of gender dysphoria.

A recent [poll](https://www.familyfirst.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Gender-Sex-Education.pdf?ref=goodoil.news) of 1,000 New Zealanders surveyed by Curia Market Research found that **51%** support a ban on puberty blockers for under 16s and **28%** disagree.

The closing of the Tavistock Clinic comes at the same time as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the US this month issued a [warning label about the risk of puberty blockers](https://publications.aap.org/aapnews/news/20636/Risk-of-pseudotumor-cerebri-added-to-labeling-for?autologincheck=redirected&ref=goodoil.news) after six minors (ages 5-12) experienced severe symptoms. The minors, who were all biologically female, suffered from symptoms of “pseudotumor cerebri” (tumour-like masses in the brain), including visual disturbances (seeing bright lights that aren’t there), headache or vomiting, papilledema (swelling of the optic nerve), increased blood pressure, and abducens neuropathy (eye paralysis).

“It’s time we put first-do-no-harm medicine and credible research ahead of ideology and an agenda to push gender fluidity indoctrination.”

[If you enjoyed this article please share it using the share buttons at the top or bottom of the article.](#)

[If you would like to access exclusive Member content or just remove the ads to make your reading experience more enjoyable click here to browse our Membership options.](https://thebfd.co.nz/subscription-plans/?ref=2)