{"id":9310,"date":"2019-08-18T19:14:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T02:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9310"},"modified":"2019-09-03T15:07:17","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T22:07:17","slug":"australia-launches-inquiry-into-safety-and-ethics-of-transgender-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9310","title":{"rendered":"Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bioedge.org\">BioEdge<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"author\">Michael Cook<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        A national inquiry into the safety and ethics of transgender medicine will be conducted by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians with the backing of Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        At the moment there are no nationally agreed standards, although <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rch.org.au\/uploadedFiles\/Main\/Content\/adolescent-medicine\/australian-standards-of-care-and-treatment-guidelines-for-trans-and-gender-diverse-children-and-adolescents.pdf\">guidelines issued by Melbourne\u2019s Royal Children\u2019s Hospital gender clinic<\/a> have been referred to as the \u201cAustralian standards\u201d. However, this document, which has been described as the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www2.health.vic.gov.au\/~\/media\/Health\/Files\/Collections\/Factsheets\/2\/2018-victorian-public-healthcare-awards-showcase_accessible\">most progressive<\/a>\u201d in the world by Victoria\u2019s Minister for Health, has not been approved by the National Health and Medical Research Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        The RCH model commits doctors to the controversial policy of reducing\u201cmental illness in trans and gender diverse children by affirming and protecting their identity in a world where many judge and hurt them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        According to an exclusive article in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/nation\/inquiry-to-assess-sex-change-concerns\/news-story\/9de740b4129d8b6b517e7e050450bd62\">The Australian<\/a> about the inquiry, \u201cCritics say the 2018 standards encourage risky medical treatment without properly considering safer therapies such as counselling for problems such as depression, anxiety, autism spectrum disorder, bullying and family conflict. The RCH standards overplay evidence for medical treatment and downplay risks, say \u2018dissident\u2019 clinicians.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        The opposing sides of the debate over transgender Australian youth differ on fundamental issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        Michelle Telfer, director of the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital Gender Service in Melbourne, told The Australian that commencing medical intervention as young as 13 or 14 was \u201cnot at all controversial within those with expertise because we all know that we have been doing this for years\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        Critics question whether gender dysphoria is really understood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        \u201cFar be it from anybody to say that there are absolutely no people in the world who are genuinely gender dysphoric and who find it impossible to live in their biological sex,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/nation\/warnings-over-surge-in-youth-transgender-cases\/news-story\/8b4efbf389a0bd61e664f93a5eaf7315\">said Dr Dianna Kenny, a psychologist<\/a>. \u201cWhat I\u2019m saying is it\u2019s been massively and irresponsibly over-diagnosed \u2026 (these children and teens) are going to be irrevocably damaged by the treatment they received.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\n        And the ethics of irreversible medical treatment have not been settled. \u201cWho gave ethics approval for this treatment (at children\u2019s hospitals) when it lacks any scientific basis and therefore is an experiment?\u201d asks Prof John Whitehall, of Western Sydney University. \u201cWe should give the psychiatry and psychology a full run before we start castrating children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8343\" style=\"width: 110px; margin-right:1em\" src=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/common.jpg\" alt=\"Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine\">This article is published by Michael Cook and BioEdge under a Creative Commons licence. You may republish it or translate it free of charge with attribution for non-commercial purposes following <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bioedge.org\/index.php\/bioethics\/copyright_and_syndication\">these guidelines<\/a>. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation to BioEdge. Commercial media must <a href=\"mailto:michael@bioedge.org\">contact BioEdge<\/a> for permission and fees. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BioEdge Michael Cook A national inquiry into the safety and ethics of transgender medicine will be conducted by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians with the backing of Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. At the moment there are no nationally agreed standards, although guidelines issued by Melbourne\u2019s Royal Children\u2019s Hospital gender clinic have been referred &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9310\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,2413,5,9],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-9310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-body-reconfiguration","category-ethics","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\r\n<title>Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9310\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BioEdge Michael Cook A national inquiry into the safety and ethics of transgender medicine will be conducted by the Royal Australasian College of Physicians with the backing of Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. At the moment there are no nationally agreed standards, although guidelines issued by Melbourne\u2019s Royal Children\u2019s Hospital gender clinic have been referred &hellip; Continue reading &quot;Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine&quot;\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=9310\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ConscienceProject\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-19T02:14:51+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-03T22:07:17+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/common.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@consciencepro\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-19T02:14:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-03T22:07:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310\"},\"wordCount\":437,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/05\\\/common.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Australia\",\"Body reconfiguration\",\"Ethics\",\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/news.consciencelaws.org\\\/?p=9310\",\"name\":\"Australia launches inquiry into safety and ethics of transgender medicine - 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