Puberty blockers may lower teen IQs according to alarming study

POWERFUL ‘ puberty blocker ’drugs given to hundreds of youngpeople who are confused abouttheir gendersignificantly risklowering their IQs,a leadingscientificexpert has warned .

In an alarming study , Sal lieB axe nd ale , Professor of ClinicalN euro psychology at UniversityCollegeLondon,called for‘ urgent’ research into the impactof the drug son children’ s brainfunction .

In England , the NHS stoppedroutinely prescribing the drugs ,which halt bodily change sinpuberty , last year after adamning review found that thetreatment could interrupt theprocess of the brain maturing.

But privategenderclinics arestill giving puberty suppress antsto under 16 sin the UK – andt rans activists insist the drugsare safe . A small number ofchildren here have be entreatedwith puberty blockers for genderdysphoria , thought he exactnumber is not known . Now ProfB axe nd ale has presentedevidence about the ‘ detrimentalimpact ’ of the controversialdrug son young people’ s IQlevels . A study , which looked at25 girls being treated with thepubertyblockers,foundtherewasanaveragedropofsevenpointsintheirIQs.Onepatientexperienced a ‘significant loss’ of15 pointsormore,ProfBaxendalesaid.

Thegirlsallsufferedfrom‘precociouspuberty’leadingtotheearlyonsetofadulthood.

‘Young people and theirfamilies are unable to give trulyinformedconsent for thesetreatments as their doctorscan not tell them what the long term effects on their cognitivedevelopment will be ,’ said Prof Baxendale.

Stephanie Davies-Arai, ofTrans genderTrend, which has campaignedagainstpuberty blockers for young people, said:‘Properlong-termstudieshaveneverbeendoneto provetheyare safe. It is a myth blockers are“reversible” when given at thetime of naturalpuberty.’

‘We cannot tell what the long-term effects will be’