It confused me why, chemical castration drugs or late-stage endometriosis drugs, are allowed to be used off-label as puberty blockers on children in Australia as young as 9-11 years old. Surely it can't be just ideology? Usually, before a drug is even tested on humans, let alone approved for use, animal studies are conducted, there have been three animal studies for trialling the effect on youth.
a) Nuruddin, S. et al. (2013) show that sheep’s brains are demonstrably altered by puberty blockers Peri-pubertal gonadotropin-releasing hormone analog treatment affects hippocampus gene expression without changing spatial orientation in young sheep.
b) Hough, D. et al, (2017) show that sheep’s ability to navigate a maze is impaired long after stopping puberty blockers. ‘A reduction in long-term spatial memory persists after discontinuation of peripubertal GnRH agonist treatment in sheep’.
c) Anacker et al. (2021) demonstrate the dramatic effect of puberty blockers on mice: males develop a stronger preference for other males and increased stress response; females exhibit increased anxiety and despair-like behaviour. ‘Behavioral and neurobiological effects of GnRH agonist treatment in mice: potential implications for puberty suppression in transgender individuals’.
Under normal circumstances, such adverse animal findings would halt human trials and preclude their use in humans unless the consequences of not treating were demonstrably worse than the consequences of treating as is the case in precocious puberty and prostate cancer where GnRH agonists are approved under strict conditions and limited period of time.
Would it surprise you, that 96% of the Therapeutic Goods Administration's (TGA) budget is funded by pharmaceutical companies? (https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1538.full )
The use of puberty blockers in gender dysphoric children amounts to experimentation and recent reports from the first Gender Clinics in Sweden document serious adverse effects and physical deformities in youth 3-4 years since the start of treatment.
We call for a parliamentary inquiry into gender-affirming care, that includes the corruption of the regulatory drug industry.