UN official hails 'seminal' UK research on the 'devastating consequences' of medical care for trans kids and seeks global crackdown on puberty blockers
- The UN's Reem Alsalem says the Cass Review's 'implications go beyond the UK'
- Teenage girls have been the worst hit by a drugs-first approach to trans kids
- READ MORE: Scared students forced back to class with 'troubled' trans kid
A UN official has thrown her weight behind a damning report about trans medicine in the UK, saying it lifts the lid on the 'devastating consequences' of puberty blockers on children.
Reem Alsalem, a rapporteur on violence against women and girls, said this month's Cass Review into Britain's trans health crisis was 'seminal' and that it could upend gender-affirming care globally.
Alsalem's comments are unusually tough for a UN official on such a divisive topic. Other parts of the UN system, including the World Health Organization, are bigger advocates of sex-change drugs and surgeries.
'The Cass review findings and recommendations are seminal, and its implications go beyond the United Kingdom,' Alsalem said.
UN investigator Reem Alsalem (left) called for a change in how trans children get care
Trans activists at a statehouse meeting in Indianapolis last year said gender affirming care saves lives
'It has in my view very clearly shown the devastating consequences that policies on gender treatments have had on human rights of children, including girls.'
Whether to provide trans-identified kids with sex-change drugs has become a hot button issue globally, especially in the US, where Republican lawmakers have banned treatments in dozens of states.
Trans activists have long argued that it is life-saving among a suicide-prone group.
They also said that puberty blockers help gender-confused adolescents by harmlessly pausing physical changes and buying them time to make life-changing decisions.
But the final report of Britain's Cass Review, led by top pediatrician Dr Hilary Cass, found this month that medical evidence for gender care for adolescents was 'remarkably weak' and provides little clarity on long-term outcomes.
It also bemoaned a 'toxic' public discourse around gender.
England's public health system stopped prescribing puberty-blockers to children and young people based on Cass's findings, which said there was little evidence of their benefits and signs that they do harm.
The report has not ended the debate between trans activists and their growing number of opponents, but it has made it easier for critics of gender-affirming care to state their objections without being silenced as transphobic.
Still, Cass has since been threatened by trans rights activists and cannot use public transport for fear of being attacked.
Alsalem said researchers should not be 'silenced, threatened or intimidated simply for holding and articulating such views.'
Dr Hilary Cass can no longer use public transport in case she is attacked by a violent trans activist
A trans rights protest in Britian, where Dr Cass says the debate over medical care has become 'toxic'
The UN investigator said the report has been especially valuable to the 'extraordinarily high number of teenage girls who have been impacted by anxiety and depression in recent years' who come out as trans.
'The Cass Review recommends adopting a holistic approach to care for children, including girls seeking gender therapy, instead of rapidly initiating permanent gender transition pathways that usually begin with puberty blockers,' said Alsalem.
These drugs can 'cause temporary or permanent disruption to brain maturation,' she added.
Future care must focus more on the 'root causes' of gender confusion, which is also impacted by other mental health problems, she said.
Alsalem holds a special post in the UN's human rights division, and does not speak for the whole system.
The global body system is split on trans medicine. The UN's World Health Organization this year launched a 20-member panel on trans health made up mostly of trans campaigners and advocates. Critics call it one-sided.
Whether to provide gender-affirming drugs and surgeries to trans people, especially children, and letting people choose their own sex on official papers, have divided opinions globally.
Trans campaigners say society should be more inclusive of trans and non-binary people, critics say sex is an immutable biological fact and that trans people often need mental health support, not drugs.
