The United Kingdom is taking its most definitive step to protect young people struggling with their gender identity by permanently banning the use of puberty blockers, except in clinical trials. 

Wes Streeting, the Health and Social Care Secretary, announced the decision last week, citing that Britain needed to "act with caution and care when it comes to this vulnerable group of young people and follow the expert advice."

Streeting pointed to an independent review by the Commission on Human Medicines that found "not enough evidence of safety and clinical effectiveness" for using the drugs long-term. 

"Puberty blockers are powerful drugs with unproven benefits and significant risks, and that is why I recommended that they should only be prescribed following a multi-disciplinary assessment and within a research protocol," said Dr. Hilary Cass, the author of the review and the nation's top pediatrician. 

A review by the group found that children were being prescribed medication after filling out a questionnaire and taking part in one Zoom call. 

Puberty blockers, or gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues (GnRHa), are a classification of drugs that suppresses sex hormones in adolescents by continually interfering with the person's pituitary gland.

As CBN News reported, England's National Health Service (NHS) announced in a landmark decision in March that it would not routinely offer puberty-blocking drugs to children at gender identity clinics after the review was released. 

After that decision, the then-conservative government moved to ban puberty blockers through emergency legislation in May. 

The recent decision announced by Streeting marks a move by the government to make the order indefinite. However, it will be reviewed in 2027.

Puberty blockers have been linked to poor mental health among children struggling with gender confusion. 

A 2023 study from the University of Essex found that one-third of youth with gender dysphoria (GD) experienced a decline in mental health after taking puberty blockers.

The group of 12-15 years who all took puberty blockers were deemed "psychologically stable" but were classified as having a "high likelihood of extreme psychological distress with ongoing pubertal development," the study described. 

Findings showed that 34% of trans-identifying youth experienced a decline in mental health while taking puberty blockers.

READ: Former Trans Kids Warn Others – 'Don't Do It!'

The U.K.'s indefinite ban will apply across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

As CBN News has previously reported, Norway, Finland, and Sweden have already halted or changed policies on gender-altering drugs and procedures for minors to safeguard children from harmful experimentation.

Meanwhile, Nathanael Blake of the Ethics and Public Policy Center recently told CBN News that a similar trend could soon come to the U.S.

"I think it will happen. I don't think that it will be quite the same as in the U.K.," Blake said, "but I think all it may take will be one or two big lawsuits winning. And if there are major damages awarded to some of the people who have been hurt by gender transition, that might break the industry, which has simply been able to profit off of injuring people and has not yet been held accountable for that."

MORE: Texas AG Sues Pediatrician for Allegedly Providing Irreversible Transgender Procedures for Kids
 

***Please sign up for CBN Newsletters and download the CBN News app to ensure you keep receiving the latest news.***