Endocrinologist Dr. Roy Eappen warned that while other nations have already urged caution in the use of transgender hormone drugs for children and teens, America is “standing still, or, perhaps, going backward.”
In a recent op-ed at the Daily Herald in Chicago, the senior fellow at Do No Harm, an organization of physicians, other healthcare professionals, and policymakers seeking to “protect patients, physicians, and healthcare itself from radical, divisive ideology,” urged Americans to be aware that “European countries are rapidly pulling back” from transgender drug treatments, “based on growing evidence that children are suffering.”
Yet, “America continues to promote them,” Eappen (pictured above) wrote, because of the endorsement of a highly radicalized society.
While European countries are rapidly pulling back from so-called “gender-affirming care”, America continues to push forward.
What do other countries know that America doesn't?https://t.co/v1ECKTfQnr
— Do No Harm (@donoharm) June 26, 2023
A 30-year member of the Endocrine Society, Eappen said the organization has done “vital work in many areas of public health.”
While he said he believes his colleagues in the Endocrine Society “are doing what they think is best,” he asserts that “the mental and physical health of American children is now at risk.”
“Thousands of teens and preteens are transitioning genders every year, a number that’s rising fast,” he said. “Yet to date, no professional medical association in the U.S. has fully reviewed the evidence to determine whether children are being helped or hurt.”
Eappen noted that the Endocrine Society actually went ahead and “endorsed transgender care for children in 2017,” even though “there were only a handful of studies on the effects of these treatments.”
“The group frankly admitted that the quality of evidence was ‘low’ or ‘very low,’” he wrote. “Yet the Society still recommended that children get medications and procedures for gender transitions.”
The endocrinologist said, however, that new studies – the science that European countries like Sweden, Finland, the United Kingdom, and now Norway, are following – are providing evidence that hormone blockers “can decrease bone density and contribute to infertility.”
“They may also inhibit cognitive development,” he added. “Ditto cross-sex hormones, which can irreversibly change the body, cause infertility, and even lead to strokes, heart attacks, and diabetes.”
The damage to mental health is also evident, Eappen wrote, observing the evidence is now suggesting transgender treatments are leading to a deterioration in the psychological health of young people.
“Other countries, from Italy to Ireland to Australia, are also urging greater caution,” he emphasized. “They’re going where the science points. It increasingly points to the likelihood that giving children these treatments carries far more risks than benefits.”
Eappen asks why America is heading in the wrong direction:
Why hasn’t America caught up with the science? Why is it standing still, or perhaps going backward, while other countries are moving forward? The answer is that groups like the Endocrine Society haven’t updated their guidelines to keep up with the times. Maybe it’s waiting for even more research. Maybe it’s worried about the blowback from the very vocal activist community. I’ve talked with many of my fellow endocrinologists who are afraid of speaking up. Yet inaction potentially endangers more children with every passing day.
“This is one of the most difficult and debated medical issues in history,” Eappen concluded. “Given that the stakes are the mental and physical health of children, the least medical professionals and societies can do is be cautious and seek out better science. Other countries understand this. For the sake of children, America needs to follow suit, and soon.”
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]
Photo “Roy Eappen” by Roy Eappen.
