THE Council of the British Medical Association has voted to oppose the Cass Review and to support the prescribing of puberty blockers to teenagers with gender-related distress. As a member for over 30 years I have resigned from the BMA. The BMA says that it has concerns about "weaknesses in the methodologies used in the review" and vows to lobby ministers and NHS leaders to "oppose the implementation of the recommendations of the Cass review".
I find such a stance barely believable. It seems to have no concern for "methodologies" when encouraging the unlicensed use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in troubled teenagers. There are no studies showing convincing benefit at all.
The prescribing is often described as "experimental". That is partly true but since no follow-up of patients is conducted it is not really an experiment. It is just reckless.
It says that the ban is "discriminatory". What is discriminatory is that more than 80% of the teenagers given puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are same-sex-attracted and many are autistic. They are being given unlicensed medication which, in time, will cause sterilisation and loss of sexual function as well as other irreversible changes.
The BMA should remember the principle of First Do No Harm and reverse its decision. It should cooperate with all efforts to provide evidence-based holistic care for teenagers and others with gender-related distress. Meanwhile I urge all members of the BMA to resign and to write expla.