{"id":789,"date":"2026-02-21T17:32:51","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T15:32:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/?p=789"},"modified":"2026-05-18T16:54:59","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T13:54:59","slug":"uk-halts-teenagers-puberty-blocker-trials-over-child-safety-concerns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/uk-halts-teenagers-puberty-blocker-trials-over-child-safety-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"UK Halts Teenagers\u2019 Puberty Blocker Trials Over Child Safety Concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The investigators of the study, known as <strong>Pathways<\/strong>, were summoned to an urgent meeting with <strong>King\u2019s College London<\/strong>, as the plan is expected to include <strong>226 children<\/strong> who identify as <strong>transgender<\/strong>. Its launch had been scheduled for April and has already provoked backlash after it was revealed that <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>participants could receive up to \u00a3500 in Love2Shop vouchers for completing psychometric tests<\/strong><\/span>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Specifically, the regulatory authority warned that puberty blockers\u2014especially if followed by cross-sex hormones\u2014may render children infertile. It also raised concerns about the risk of permanent changes to bone structure if the drugs are used for more than a year, the possible impact on brain development, and whether very young children are able to handle side effects such as vaginal bleeding.<\/p>\n<p>The British <strong>Department of Health and Social Care<\/strong> confirmed that <em><strong>&#8220;preparations for the clinical trial have been stopped&#8221;<\/strong><\/em> following concerns from regulatory bodies and the medical community. The Health Secretary, <strong>Wes Streeting<\/strong>, has admitted he is &#8220;struggling&#8221; with the decision and feels &#8220;uncomfortable&#8221; with the prospect of the trial going ahead. Additionally, he has acknowledged in Parliament that <strong>children cannot legally consent<\/strong> but provide <strong>&#8220;informed consent&#8221; with parental approval<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Some critics are calling for the complete termination of the trial. The leader of Reform UK, <strong>Nigel Farage<\/strong>, described it as <strong>&#8220;state-supported infanticide&#8221;<\/strong>, while protesters have organized demonstrations demanding that ministers end the process once and for all.<\/p>\n<p>Puberty blockers had already been curtailed since 2024, according to the Cass report, which found that the <strong>evidence<\/strong> supporting their use in children with gender dysphoria is <strong>&#8220;significantly weak&#8221;<\/strong> and called for controlled research.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The UK halted a controversial trial giving puberty blockers to children as young as eight amid health risks and ethical concerns, sparking fierce debate on consent and medical oversight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[123,696,694,693,18,695],"nfg_topic":[137],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-culture-wars","tag-department-of-health-and-social-care","tag-kings-college-of-london","tag-nhs","tag-nigel-farage","tag-wes-streeting","nfg_topic-culture-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":791,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions\/791"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"nfg_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsfire.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/nfg_topic?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}