Puberty blockers and children

Sir, – Dr Aidan Kelly, quoted in “Thousands of children unsure of gender identity ‘let down by NHS’, report finds” (World, April 10th), is incorrect when he says that the NHS move away from the use of puberty blockers to treat gender-related distress in children is “out of step with the rest of the world”. Finland, Norway, Sweden, France and Denmark have all restricted or banned the use of puberty blockers in the treatment of gender-related distress in children because, as the Cass review makes plain, there is no reliable, long-term evidence base to support their use. The NHS and WPATH (World Professional Association for Transgender Health) protocols have been cited by Irish politicians, NGOs and the HSE as the gold standards of care for the treatment of children with gender-related distress.

These standards of care have been shown to be neither scientific nor medically appropriate.

Will we learn our lesson or will the State Claims Agency be faced with a deluge of actions in years to come because, in spite of the evidence, we continued to cause irreversible damage to children? – Yours, etc,

SANDRA ADAMS,

I am that deeply suspect Irish creature, a mother of an only child. It was by choice

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Dublin 13.