THE Health Secretary says he is deeply uncomfortable with giving children puberty blockers in an NHS trial.
But despite safety fears, Wes Streeting is allowing the controversial study to go ahead.
More than 200 gender-questioning children, some as young as eight, are expected to receive hormone-suppressing drugs.
Mr Streeting told radio station LBC yesterday: “Medication that delays, or indeed stops, a natural part of our human development, which is puberty, I am deeply uncomfortable with.
“The clinical advice is to go ahead with the trial.
“We’re following that evidence. As I say, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me. There will be debate on this.”
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The trial was recommended by the Cass Review into children’s gender care, which raised concerns about clinical standards.
Puberty blockers for under-18s were banned last year.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is among dozens of MPs to condemn the trial as unethical.
Meanwhile, campaigners have launched legal action against the Medicines & Health products Regulatory Agency, which licensed the trial, and the Health Research Authority, which gave it ethical approval.
