<\/p>\n
Campaigners have began a legal process intended to suspend a clinical trial of puberty blockers on the grounds that the research could prove harmful to the children taking part.<\/p>\n
The study was commissioned in response to last year\u2019s Cass review of gender identity services which found that gender medicine was an \u201carea of remarkably weak evidence\u201d and \u201cbuilt on shaky foundations<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n Originally used to treat early-onset puberty, puberty blockers<\/a> had been prescribed off-label to children with gender dysphoria until the NHS banned their use last year after the Cass review.<\/p>\n Legal letters have been issued to the medical regulators responsible for the trial, and copied to the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and NHS<\/a> England. The action has been launched by campaigners from the Bayswater Support Group, made up of parents of children and young adults who identify as trans or non-binary, along with the psychotherapist James Esses, who treats children with gender dysphoria, and Keira Bell, who began taking puberty blockers as a teenager before later detransitioning.<\/p>\n They say the trial \u201cfails to safeguard the rights, safety and wellbeing of its subjects, who constitute highly vulnerable children\u201d on the grounds that the treatment may irreversibly damage fertility. They argue that the research is \u201cunlawful given the limited known benefits of treatment with puberty blockers\u201d. Questioning the need to prescribe drugs, Esses said counselling has been shown to be effective for children with gender dysphoria.<\/p>\n Details of the NHS England-funded Pathways trial, which is scheduled to start in January, were revealed last month<\/a>. Run by King\u2019s College London researchers, the study will assess how to improve care for gender-questioning children and is expected to recruit about 226 young people over the next three years. The youngest participants could be 10 to 11 for biological girls and 11 to 12 for boys. The upper age limit for joining the study will be 15 years and 11 months.<\/p>\n One group will be given puberty blockers for two years, while the other will be given the drugs after a one-year delay. Researchers expect to publish results in around four years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n