
The executive director of the premier group of American pediatricians that has opposed the so-called “gender-affirming care” model of treatment for gender dysphoria in children said the newly published final report by Britain’s Dr. Hilary Cass revealed significant flaws in the studies that have been used to treat young people with experimental puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.
“The protocol that all these guidelines are based on are, are flawed, and they’re based on these Dutch studies that were done and they were not done on children,” explained Dr. Jill Simons, executive director of the American College of Pediatricians (ACPeds) during an interview Thursday on ‘Washington Watch with Tony Perkins’:
“The data was extrapolated to children. The creators of the Dutch study have even come out and said this wasn’t intended for this population. And, so, then, other groups, like WPATH … based these protocols on … this, and it’s faulty from the foundation.”
Simons said while she was not surprised at the independent Cass report’s stark criticism of the use of puberty blockers and hormone drugs to treat children with gender confusion, it was nevertheless “reassuring to hear Dr. Cass say in her own words that there’s significant lack of evidence in this area, and that there’s evidence that what we’re currently doing – or what England was doing – was causing harm to children.”
“This review was quite extensive,” Simons explained. “In fact, when they started doing the review, they realized that there was such a lack of evidence to understand fully the research and what is needed for children with gender dysphoria.”
Highlighting the extent of the work conducted by the University of York, which was commissioned to perform the systematic reviews on the studies used to develop treatment protocols for young people, Simons told Perkins “not only was it looking into what the clinics were doing, but it was doing background on … what research exists out there currently.”
Perkins directed her attention to the report’s mention of WPATH’s having been “highly influential in directing international practice, although its guidelines were found by the University of York’s appraisal to lack developmental rigor and transparency.”
“The very organization that has been driving this is doing so without any real foundation,” Perkins emphasized.
“You’re exactly right,” Simons responded. “This is what we at the American College of Pediatricians and several others have been crying out for years.”
She cited Cass’s introductory comments noting that while new treatments for young people normally go through a lengthy trial period prior to being available for general use, “quite the reverse happened in the field of gender care for children.”
“Dr. Cass says … children deserve to have the same standards of care that … every other person receives when … they’re treated for a medical problem. And this just wasn’t held to that standard … she made it clear that these children are going to be not experimented on anymore, that they’re going to be treated as they should,” Simons added.
Asked by Perkins whether, given the significant lack of evidence to support the “gender-affirming care” model for children with gender dysphoria, it’s “ideology that’s been driving this and not science,” Simons said, “[I]t fits the definition of ideology. You know, we in medicine – we push for – us treating patients based on the evidence, and long-term outcomes, and science, and clearly there are agendas for people pushing these treatments.”
In response to the Cass report, England’s National Health Service (NHSE) said in a statement it is “very grateful to Dr Cass and her team for their comprehensive work on this important review over the past four years”:
We will set out a full implementation plan following careful consideration of this final report and its recommendations, and the NHS is also bringing forward its systemic review of adult gender services and has written to local NHS leaders to ask them to pause offering first appointments at adult gender clinics to young people below their 18th birthday.
Perkins, however, said he noted “a reluctance, or actually, barricades put up so that we [in the U.S.] can’t do this type of analysis.”
“Will this type of research that is coming from Europe have an impact on what’s happening here in the United States?” he asked Simons.
“It will eventually you know, I’m, I’m hopeful that my colleagues, especially my pediatric colleagues, will take this, like we do any other medical findings, and look at the facts and decide to do what’s best for children,” she replied. “If our profession, you know, can’t make the right decisions, then these will be settled in the courts. You know, there’s already lawsuits from children who have been harmed, you know, the detransitioners.”
“We just want this to be resolved as quickly as possible so that no further child is harmed.”
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