UK Puberty Blocker Trial Finally Halted Over Significant Safety Concerns
A shocking NHS-supported trial has now been suspended following officials’ warnings of “significant” long-term harms to young people. The controversial plans aimed to give puberty blockers to children as young as eight-years-old, but the UK
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A shocking NHS-supported trial has now been suspended following officials’ warnings of “significant” long-term harms to young people. The controversial plans aimed to give puberty blockers to children as young as eight-years-old, but the UK’s medicines regulator has finally stepped in to stop it, citing major safety fears.
What Were They Thinking?
The trial was originally announced in November 2025, in which the NHS planned to prescribe banned puberty blockers to more than 200 young people – targeting kids as young as eight – who thought they may be transgender. At the time, parents nationwide called it a “betrayal of children”, and protests quickly assembled.
The original plan was to fund the trial with approximately £11 million ($15 million) of taxpayers’ money, which would go on for several years. In the streets and in Parliament, critics immediately raised concerns about the danger of the experiment because it involved giving powerful hormone-suppressing drugs to physically healthy children without robust long-term evidence of safety or benefit. They argued it could permanently affect bone, brain and reproductive development.
It all stems from recommendations in the 2024 Cass review, which itself found that the evidence supporting puberty blockers in gender-questioning young people is very weak. Several MPs and clinicians had warned that this weak scientific foundation should not justify exposing children to potentially irreversible treatments. Baroness Hilary Cass, who led the review, reiterated the weak evidence base, but said “given that there are clinicians, children and families who believe passionately in the beneficial effects, a trial was the only way forward to make sense of this”.
At the time, political unease was clear. Health Secretary Wes Streeting expressed his discomfort with the idea of giving puberty blockers to children, but said he was following clinical advice to proceed. Senior Conservative figures like Kemi Badenoch urged the government to scrap the trial entirely, calling it “activist ideology masquerading as research”.
Groups such as the Bayswater Support Group, which is a British advocacy group for parents who reject their transgender children’s identities, condemned the trial. Keira Bell – who previously took puberty blockers as a teenager but later detransitioned – publicly argued that the trial repeats past errors and fails to safeguard children who cannot give fully informed consent. Harry Potter author JK Rowling has been another major public voice, describing the trial as “an unethical experiment on children who can’t give meaningful consent”.
The Trial is Finally Paused
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has now halted the trial warning of unquantified and potentially significant long-term harms. It doesn’t mean the trial has been called off entirely, but officials are demanding immediate discussions with trial leaders at King’s College London. They want the minimum age for participants raising to 14.
Involving 226 children, and funded by the NHS, the trial was set to begin in April this year. As well as the aforementioned reasons for outrage, it was later discovered that participants were offered up to £500 in Love2Shop vouchers (widely-accepted shopping vouchers in the UK) for completing psychometric tests.
MHRA raised concerns about the risk of persistent bone structural changes if the puberty-blocking drugs are taken for more than a year, as well as impacts on brain development, and whether children as young as eight could cope with side effects such as vaginal bleeding. Their stark letter also warned that these drugs are “very likely” to leave children infertile.
Wes Streeting, who previously admitted he is “not comfortable” and “wrestles” with the decision also acknowledged in Parliament that children cannot legally consent, instead providing “informed assent” alongside parental approval.
Statement From the Department of Health and Social Care
“We have always been clear about the red lines regarding this trial – ensuring the safety and wellbeing of the children and young people involved and always being led by the clinical evidence.
“The MHRA has now raised new concerns – directly related to the wellbeing of children and young people – and scientific dialogue will now follow with the trial sponsor.
“As the evidence is now being interrogated by clinicians, preparations for the trial have been paused while the MHRA and clinical leaders work through these concerns.
“This trial will only be allowed to go ahead if the expert scientific and clinical evidence and advice conclude it is both safe and necessary.
“The safety and wellbeing of children and young people have always been the driving consideration in every decision we have made regarding this trial and always will be.”
Puberty Blockers Were Previously Banned
Puberty blockers were permanently banned for routine use in 2024 following the Cass review, citing “remarkably weak” evidence supporting their use in gender-distressed children – but called for controlled research. The senior paediatrician involved said a puberty blocker trial is “better” than children buying drugs on the dark web.
A spokesperson for King’s College London, who is sponsoring the trial, said: “The wellbeing and health of young people with gender incongruence and their families has been, and will remain, our priority, and we will continue to work with the MHRA to support their further review of the trial, which has been designed by world-leading academics with scientific rigour at its core.
“That rigour and ongoing scientific discussion is important for any clinical trial, particularly one as complex as Pathways, which aims to build an evidence base that can help young people and clinicians to make better-informed decisions in the future.”
Critics continue calling for the trial to be scrapped entirely. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage previously branded it “state-sponsored child abuse,” while campaigners have staged protests demanding ministers pull the plug for good.
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