PUBERTY BLOCKED

We’re on a PATHA to Nowhere, Come on Inside

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has yesterday (21 November 2024) released a long-awaited statement on the use of puberty blocking hormones in New Zealand, and announced a consultation that will last until late January 2025 i.e. all of two months. I’ve covered this topic in an earlier Substack:

The Ministry of Health’s statement comes in the form of an “evidence brief”. In response to the Ministry’s Puberty Blocker Brief, New Zealand’s Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa (PATHA) has issued a statement misleadingly entitled Puberty blocker evidence brief affirms Aotearoa’s approach

Precautionary Approach?!

The Ministry of Health has contemplated a more “precautionary approach” to prescribing puberty blockers to New Zealand youths. The suggested precautions include restricting the right to issue prescriptions to “clinicians who are experienced in providing gender-affirming care, and are part of an interprofessional team offering a full range of supports to young people presenting with gender identity issues” (whatever that all means). The Ministry has not issued or changed any hard-and-fast rules on prescribing puberty blockers.

The Ministry’s Brief falls way short of the legal restrictions on the use of puberty blockers that are already in place in the UK, Sweden, Finland and France, where such use is restricted to clinical trials i.e., routine use is banned.

The Brief is internally contradictory. While purporting to find no evidence that puberty blockers have any significant effect on…fertility, the Brief calls for increased monitoring of the effects of puberty blockers on bone health and metabolic processes and also states:

“These tighter controls reflect a level of concern here and overseas about the increasing use of these medicines for the treatment of gender identity issues without sufficient evidence to support their safety and effectiveness both now and in the longer-term.”

Given puberty is an obvious and essential step on the road to fertility, it’s curious for the Ministry of Health to find “no evidence that puberty blockers have any significant effect on…fertility”. Presumably, our Ministry is selectively focusing on those youths who escape puberty blockers before anyone gets out a scalpel. How hormonal drugs strong enough to stop puberty can be regarded as not carrying risks to general health is beyond the comprehension of…Silly Old Layman Me.

Comments from the supposed experts are similarly discrepant. Professor Paul Hofman, a paediatric endocrinologist at the University of Auckland, said “Encouragingly, the evidence published to date, while of low quality, all indicates the use of pubertal blockers is safe”.

PATHETIC & SINISTER from PATHA

PATHA’s response to the Ministry’s Blocker Brief include the following hazy crazy tit bits:

“It’s reassuring to see Manatū Hauora [that’s the Ministry of Health] recognise the best-practice approach Aotearoa is already taking, making it clear that trans and gender diverse children and young people will still be able to access puberty blockers, and that there is a need for more long-term, Aotearoa-based research into the clinical, mental health, and wellbeing impacts of this care,” PATHA President Jennifer Shields said [That’s Shields pictured at the beginning of this Substack, next to the sign commemorating Michel Foucault, the child rapist who invented Woke Identitarianism].

“Manatū Hauora recognises the importance of access to high quality health care which meets people's needs” said Dr Rona Carroll, a GP working in gender affirming care and Vice President of PATHA. “As a clinician, an important aspect of providing equitable and holistic care is to give trans and gender diverse youth the time and space to explore their identity, free from prejudice. Puberty is a critical time of change and development and for some trans and gender diverse youth, puberty blockers provide much needed breathing space. We have decades of experience in using these medications in other medical contexts.”

Manatū Hauora has opened consultation on the possibility of further restrictions or regulations on prescribing puberty blockers for gender affirming care. PATHA is concerned about the appropriateness of opening this consultation on a medical matter to the wider public, particularly when the matter of gender affirming care has become highly politicised and subject to disinformation. The approach to providing this care outlined by Manatū Hauora’s position statement is in line with best practice. PATHA cautions against further restrictions, and would encourage Manatū Hauora to approach this care the same way they would any other health intervention.

“It’s important that Manatū Hauora continue to centre the young people seeking gender affirming care as they move forward,” Shields said. “Our rangatahi deserve the same access to healthcare as any other young person. Exploring any additional criteria or conditions should prioritise improving support for prescribing clinicians and ensuring equitable access to this vital care. There are likely to be human rights implications if any additional standards or barriers were introduced for trans and gender diverse young people, when none exist for cisgender young people accessing the same medication.”

New Zealand’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Joe Bourne told host Leah Panapa on The Platform today (22 November) that he would be quite willing to prescribe puberty blockers to his children. Also today, Kathryn, an octogenarian Trans “Woman”, rang Leah on air to express “her” horror at where New Zealand is at, and what is panning out.

What the Ministry of Health is really prescribing is - puberty blocker business as usual. The Ministry has contemplated it may update its clinical guidelines on puberty blockers, but there’s no assurance of that. The current guidelines were written by…you guessed it…the Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa