Puberty blocker trial will help reduce harm, says Cass report author

Puberty blocker trial will help reduce harm, says Cass report author Just now Share Save Add as preferred on Google Alison Holt , Social affairs editor and James Melley , Senior social affairs producer BBC Dame Hilary Cass says puberty blocker trial is "essential" A trial examining the risks or benefits of drugs that can delay puberty for gender-questioning children will help reduce harm, according to the author of a landmark review. Dr Hilary Cass said she was "absolutely convinced that more children will be harmed if we don't do the trial than if we do." Her comments follow pressure from campaigners and some politicians to have the research programme scrapped after it was announced children as young as 11 could be recruited onto the trial . The Pathways clinical trial will be run by researchers at Kings College, London (KCL). In addition to setting a minimum age, they have also increased the safeguards for participants. The puberty blockers research was recommended by Dr Cass after her 2024 review of gender medicine for children pointed to weak evidence behind their use. The NHS has in the past prescribed puberty blockers for under-18s gender care, but in 2024 the government brought in a UK-wide, indefinite ban on the drugs being prescribed privately or by the NHS. Speaking to the BBC, Dr Cass said she believes since then "some of the hype about risks have been exaggerated in that we genuinely don't know if there are harms." And she said the trial was "essential" to answer the question about "whether these drugs are helpful or not". She added that young people will be "closely monitored in every respect" and the drugs stopped if concerns emerge. The researchers will examine the impact of the drugs on the physical, social and emotional wellbeing of participants. This will include checks on bone density, brain function and fertility. Cass believes without a trial young people will continue to get drugs from "unregulated and dangerous routes." "Today we have young people turning up in the clinics on testosterone at 11, which we know is irreversible," she said. "It may be that if they were prescribed puberty blockers instead, that would give more time for the therapist to work with them and perhaps come to a different solution than a long-term life on medication." Testosterone is a masculinising hormone which should not be prescribed in the UK for children under 16 for gender treatment. Puberty blockers, also known as puberty suppressing hormones (PSH), are used to delay puberty. Health Secretary James Murray told Parliament on Monday that clinical evidence would be important on which to base future decisions. Mr Murray said: "I have felt uncomfortable and uneasy about some of the challenges raised by this matter. "But for me, following the clinical advice, basing future decisions on clinical evidence, is the right way to move forward in the context of me having received the most robust assurances about the safeguards which are in place to protect