Media: U.S. long-awaited findings on puberty blockers go unpublished
A physician who withheld the study results is one of the nation’s leading advocates for gender-affirming medical care.
The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) spent $10 million studying the condition of children undergoing “hormone therapy.” However, the findings were withheld. Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, as quoted by The New York Times, admitted she feared critics of “transgender care” for children would “weaponize” the research and that it could someday be used in court to argue that “we shouldn’t be using blockers.”
A prominent U.S. physician and transgender rights advocate revealed that she intentionally withheld publishing the taxpayer-funded $10 million research on the effects of puberty blockers on American children after finding no evidence that they improve patients' mental health.
Critics, including one of Olson-Kennedy’s research colleagues, stated that withholding these findings contradicts scientific standards and denies the public vitally important information in a field that continues to deeply divide Americans.
After two years of monitoring, the treatment did not improve the mental health of the children. These findings contradicted the conclusions of a 2011 Dutch study, which gender-blocker advocates often cite to claim improvements in children’s mental health.
Olson-Kennedy explained the lack of improvement by saying the children were “in really good shape” both at the beginning and the end of the two-year treatment period. However, the Times notes that earlier data from the researchers showed that about a quarter of the study participants “were depressed or suicidal” before the treatment.
The report notes that Olson-Kennedy is one of the foremost advocates for providing gender-affirming care to adolescents in the country and frequently testifies as an expert in legal disputes regarding state bans on such procedures, now in place in more than 20 states.
As Breitbart reports, the matter involves a significant financial interest. A report from the medical watchdog group Do No Harm revealed that U.S. hospitals earned approximately $120 million over four years performing gender transition procedures on nearly 14,000 minors.
Do No Harm estimated that from 2019 to 2023, around 5,747 minors underwent gender transition surgeries, and an additional 8,579 used puberty blockers or gender hormones.
As the UOJ previously reported, Elon Musk has stated that his son is “dead” due to taking puberty blockers.
