Despite their popularity, the effects of puberty blockers remain unclear. Because they are not licensed for gender medicine, drug firms have done no trials.
Record-keeping in many clinics is poor. A2018 review by researchers at the University of Melbourne described the evidence for their use as “low-quality”. In December Britishj udges likewise flagged the lack of a “firm evidence base” when ruling that children were unlikely to be able to give meaningful
consent to taking them. Britain’s National Health Service recently withdrew
a claim, still made elsewhere, that their effects
are “fully reversible”.
The best way to settle such disputes is the same as in any other part of medicine:a
big, well-run clinical trial. So far, despite soaring caseloads, and puberty blockers
having been prescribed for decades, no one is planning to conduct one.