The 202-year-old National Academy of Medicine in France on Feb. 28 called for medical practitioners to exercise “the greatest caution” in administering puberty blockers or cross-sex hormones to French youth struggling with gender dysphoria.
In a statement addressing transgender treatments for children, the academy acknowledged an “epidemic-like phenomenon” among adolescents seeking transgender medical interventions — puberty-blocking drugs, cross-sex hormones, and invasive surgeries — which it said could be tied to social media usage and social contagion. It advised more psychological support and said medical workers who administer hormone treatments should consider the side effects, including growth impact, bone weakening, sterility, emotional and intellectual consequences, and for girls, menopause-like symptoms. Medical workers should emphasize that surgeries such as mastectomies or genitalia-altering procedures are irreversible, the academy wrote.
In recent months, medical groups and establishments in multiple countries have called for putting the brakes on hormone and surgical interventions for youth. But in the United States, by contrast, the medical establishment continues to promote an “affirmation-only” model of treating childhood gender dysphoria while stifling debate over evidence-based treatments.
Source: Hitting the brakes on transgender treatments for youth | WORLD
About time, eh?