Labour could make Tories' puberty blocker ban permanent sparking transgender row
Campaign group TransActual, and a young person who cannot be named, are making a bid to challenge the decision of now-shadow health secretary Victoria Atkins to impose a so-called "banning order" on puberty blockers, which suppress the natural production of sex hormones to delay puberty.
Wes Streeting could make the Tories’ ban on puberty blockers permanent as Labour takes a firmer stance on transgender issues.
The Health Secretary could stop powerful hormone blockers from being given to children, subject to the outcome of a legal hearing.
His predecessor Victoria Atkins passed laws to ban the blockers being supplied to children by private or off-shore clinics in emergency legislation ahead of the general election.
Mr Streeting said: “We will always put the safety of children first.
“Our approach will continue to be informed by Dr Cass's review, which found there was insufficient evidence to show puberty blockers were safe for under 18s.
“This ban brings the private sector in line with the NHS. We are committed to providing young people with the evidence-led care that they deserve.”
The emergency laws are set to expire on September 3 but the new Government must now decide whether to pass a law to make it permanent.
Puberty blockers are a medication that stops the physical changes of puberty by affecting the release of hormones from the pituitary gland.
They are used to delay the changes of puberty in transgender youths and are available in several formats as a nasal spray, an injection or as an implant.
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Dr Hilary Cass, the paediatrician who led a major review, warned that the drugs may permanently disrupt the brain maturation of adolescents.
Her review concluded that children had been let down by a lack of research and evidence on the use of puberty blockers and hormones, in a debate that it described as having become “increasingly toxic”.
It led to the NHS stopping under-18s being seen by adult clinics and given cross-sex hormones.
Helen Joyce, director of advocacy for human rights charity Sex Matters, said it was “an excellent sign that Labour intends to take an evidence-based approach to child gender medicine and to prioritise child safeguarding”.
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She said: “As the Cass Review showed, there is no research to support using these life-altering drugs for gender confusion. Mr Streeting now needs to go further, and rein in the private sale of oestrogen and testosterone.
“Otherwise unregulated online clinics will continue to profit from desperate teenagers and young adults, who have been misled by trans lobbyists into thinking of these powerful hormones as a panacea.”
The decision to ban the drugs is being challenged in the High Court by the Good Law Project and activist group TransActual.
The High Court was told that Ms Atkins had overruled officials and acted on her “personal views” when she used emergency legislation to ban puberty blockers.
At a hearing on Friday, lawyers for TransActual and a young person who cannot be named told the High Court in London that the legislation made by the previous government on May 29, which prevented the prescription of the medication from European or private prescribers, and restricted NHS provision to within clinical trials, was unlawful.
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department of Health in Northern Ireland are defending the claim and have said the case should be dismissed.
As part of the ongoing court case, the judge ordered the Health Secretary to set out his intention of the future of the puberty blockers ban.
DHSC has told the court that the Government is minded to renew the emergency banning order with a view to converting it to a permanent ban, subject to appropriate consultation.
