Tag: Tavistock Clinic

London newspaper reveals ‘shocking evidence’ about transgender treatments

BioEdge

Michael Cook*

London newspaper reveals 'shocking evidence' about transgender treatments
Mira Pavlakovic,FreeImages

After a legal battle The Mail on Sunday has published what it called “shocking evidence” about transgender medicine which led a High Court judge to ban a government gender clinic from prescribing puberty-blockers.

The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) clinic in London, also known as the Tavistock Centre, began prescribing these for children under 16 in 2011. In December the clinic was forced to stop after the Court ruled that it was “very doubtful” that youngsters could give informed consent of puberty blockers is basically “a live experiment” on vulnerable children.

Swedish psychiatrist Christopher Gillberg testified that the use of puberty blockers is basically “a live experiment” on vulnerable children.”In my years as a physician,” he wrote, “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.” . . . [Full text]

Questions remain over puberty-blockers, as review clears study

BBC

Deborah Cohen,Hannah Barnes

Over the past year, there have been mounting criticisms of a study into the effects of puberty-blocking drugs when used to treat young people with gender dysphoria – including concerns raised by Newsnight.

The study was carried out at the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at London’s Tavistock Clinic – England’s only NHS youth gender clinic – and partly led to the clinic lowering the age at which it offers children puberty blockers. The clinic started recruiting young people to the study in 2011.

Puberty blockers are given to young people who are struggling with their gender identity. They work on the brain to stop the rise in sex hormones – oestrogen and testosterone – that accompanies puberty. These are the hormones that lead to changes in the body, such as periods, breasts or voice-breaking. . . [Full text]