Puberty blockers banned throughout Britain after consultants warn of ‘unacceptable security dangers’

Puberty blockers are to be banned indefinitely after experts warned of an “unacceptable safety risk” to children.

The Government has permanently banned the drugs that halt the sexual development of children and has launched a clinical trial to test their long term effectiveness. They can prevent the development of breasts or facial hair but come with the risk of largely unknown complications in the longer term.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting announced the action in a statement to MPs in the House of Commons, after asking for the verdict of the Commission on Human Medicines (CHM). He said: “After thoroughly examining all the available evidence, they have concluded that prescribing puberty blockers to children for the purposes of gender dysphoria in the current prescribing environment represents, and I quote, ‘an unacceptable safety risk’. Of particular concern to the Commission was whether these children and their families were provided with enough time and information to give their full and informed consent.”

He added: “We do not yet know the risks of stopping pubertal hormones at this critical life stage. That is the basis upon which I am making decisions. I am treading cautiously in this area because the safety of children must come first.”

More than 6,200 children and young people are on NHS gender services’ waiting lists. There are plans for up to eight new regional centres to care for young gender-questioning patients.

The ban comes after the British Medical Association broke ranks with other medical groups and called for the drugs to continue to be provided by the NHS while it conducted its own evaluation of the four-year review by consultant paediatrician Dr Cass.

Dr Hilary Cass – now Baroness Cass – in April published the largest and most wide ranging evidence review looking at use of the medication and advised “extreme caution” before prescribing children masculinising or feminising hormones. She also called for a “more cautious approach” before children change their pronouns, names and clothes before puberty.

Dr Cass said this “social transitioning” can lead to a greater sense of urgency for medical interventions such as puberty blockers for which there is very little long-term evidence The 400-page review was commissioned by NHS England in 2020 after a steep rise in the numbers of children asking for, and receiving, gender change treatments.

Mr Streeting continued: “I asked the Commission on Human Medicines to look at the current environment for prescribing puberty blockers, and we launched a targeted consultation. The Commission is an independent body made up of leading clinicians and epidemiologists which advises on medicine safety. They took evidence directly from clinical experts, consultant paediatric endocrinologists and patient representatives, including representatives of trans people, young people and their families.”

Mr Streeting added: “Dr Cass’s review painted a picture of a service unable to cope with demand. Children and young people face unacceptably long waits for care, with some children passing into adulthood before their first appointment, leaving them facing a dangerous cliff edge. I am pleased to tell the House that NHS England are now working with potential partner organisations to explore establishing a much needed follow through service for 17 to 25-year-olds, as Dr Cass recommended. Young people’s distress or their needs do not vanish when they turn 18, and neither should their healthcare.”

Conservative shadow health secretary Ed Argar told the Commons: “When the Secretary of State is wrong, we will challenge him robustly and hold him to account but when he is right, we will support him. That is responsible opposition. In what he sets out today, he is right and he has my support in what he is doing. Protecting children is one of the most important priorities that a health secretary can have.”

The NHS announced in March that children would no longer be prescribed puberty blockers at gender identity clinics. The following month the landmark Cass Review concluded that the quality of studies claiming to show beneficial effects for children and young people with gender dysphoria was “poor”. It was largely based a single Dutch study, “suggesting puberty blockers may improve psychological wellbeing for a narrowly defined group of children with gender incongruence”.

In May a ban on puberty blockers was introduced by the then government with emergency legislation, preventing the prescription of the medication from European or private prescribers and restricting NHS provision to within clinical trials. Wednesday’s announcement that the ban on sale and supply of puberty blockers through private prescriptions is to be indefinite “closes a loophole that posed a risk to the safety of children and young people”, NHS England said.

The ban applies across the UK and plans are in place to set up a clinical trial into the use of puberty blockers next year.