By Jon BrownChristian Post Reporter Saturday, April 13, 2024

A recent study by 11 scientists with the Mayo Clinic suggests that boys who take puberty-blocking drugs could be at risk of developing atrophied testicles and long-term infertility problems, despite claims that such drugs are reversible.

The to studypublished in March and titled “Puberty Blocker and Aging Effect on Testicular Cell States and Function,” analyzed testicular tissue samples from 87 patients under the age of 18.

Sixteen of the boys identified as girls, and nine of them were taking puberty blockers.

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Two of the nine on puberty blockers “showed abnormalities” in their testicles, states the study hosted on the website of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.

Researchers indicated that they offered “unprecedented histological evidence revealing deleterious pediatric testicular gonadal responses to [puberty blockers].”

“At the tissue level, we report mild to severe gonadal atrophy [puberty blocker] treated children,” they wrote.

Such abnormalities could negatively affect sperm production, thus posing a risk to a boy's future fertility and causing “possible concern regarding the complete 'reversibility' and reproductive fitness of a boy.” [spermatogonial stem cells],” researchers said.

The researchers noted the paucity of clinical data on children treated with puberty blockers and that the consequences of such drugs for “juvenile testicular development and reproductive fitness” are “poorly understood.”

Researchers claimed their study is “significant” given the rise in transgender procedures “despite limited data on the long-term consequences of [puberty blocker] exhibition on testicular reproductive health.”

The Mayo Clinic says on its website that puberty blockers “do not cause permanent physical changes” but instead simply “pause puberty.”

“This offers an opportunity to explore gender identity,” the Mayo Clinic website continues. “It also gives youth and their families time to plan for the psychological, medical, developmental, social and legal issues that may lie ahead.”

The study follows this week's edition of the “Cass Report” in Great Britain. The review was commissioned in response to the exponential increase in youth seeking treatment for gender dysphoria over the past decade and noted the poor quality of studies examining the long-term use of puberty blockers to treat children with gender dysphoria.

The report urged the UK's National Health Services to “review the policy on masculinisation/feminisation of hormones” and recommended “extreme caution” when prescribing cross-sex hormones to minors.

“There should be a clear clinical rationale for providing hormones at this stage rather than waiting until an individual reaches 18,” the report said.

Following the publication of the Cass Report, the NHS is advising its “sex clinics to implement a pause” on first appointments for those under 18.

Other European countries, such as Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, have also restricted or restricted puberty-blocking drugs for minors. The New York Times reports that new guidelines in Denmark completed this year will limit hormone treatments to trans-identified teenagers who have experienced dysphoria since early childhood.