Free Republic

The Truth About ‘Puberty Blockers’ The FDA hasn’t approved them for gender dysphoria, and their effects are serious and permanent.

It’s a rare day when we get to say something nice about Europe when it comes to social issues, particularly when comparing those nations to the United States. But there is one area where they are leading the way and leaving America in the dust. Multiple European countries over the past year or more have conducted thorough scientific research resulting in policies that largely ban transgender “medical care” for children. The latest to join the crowd was Norway. They have now ruled that professional guidance encouraging puberty blockers or sex-change surgery for children should be “restricted to research settings only.”...

For years, Sharissa Derricott, 30, had no idea why her body seemed to be failing. At 21, a surgeon replaced her deteriorated jaw joint. She’s been diagnosed with degenerative disc disease and fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition. Her teeth are shedding enamel and cracking. None of it made sense to her until she discovered a community of women online who describe similar symptoms and have one thing in common: All had taken a drug called Lupron. Thousands of parents chose to inject their daughters with the drug, which was approved to shut down puberty in young girls but also is...

A little-noticed provision of the omnibus spending bill could give the agency power to ban off-label use of approved therapies.. Secreted within the 2023 omnibus appropriations bill—4,155 pages, spending $1.7 trillion—is a 19-line section that could change the way medicine is practiced. Physicians routinely prescribe drugs and employ medical devices that are approved and labeled by the Food and Drug Administration for a particular use. Yet sometimes physicians discern other beneficial uses for these technologies, which they prescribe for their patients without specific official sanction. The new legislation amends the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, or FDCA, to give the...