Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is launching an investigation against two drugmakers that allegedly promote their puberty blockers for managing gender dysphoria in children. Paxton is adamant that someone should be held accountable for pushing such hormone therapy because he believes it's a form of child abuse.
In an interview with Fox News, Paxton revealed that he is investigating Endo Pharmaceuticals and AbbVie Inc. for violating the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. The attorney said that the companies have been promoting unapproved uses of puberty blockers, such as Supprelin LA, Lupron Depot and Vantas, and have also not disclosed the risks to the parents and their children.
Supprelin LA and Lupron Depot are given to kids with Central Precocious Puberty (CPP), while Vantas is a treatment for prostate cancer for patients in palliative. Paxton said that these drugs do not have any approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for gender dysphoria.
Gender Dysphoria and Puberty Blockers
Per Mayo Clinic, gender dysphoria happens when a person feels discomfort or distress over the sex assigned to them at birth versus their gender identity. This has been classified under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is regularly published and released by the American Psychiatric Association.
Puberty blockers or hormone blockers, on the other hand, are medications taken by transgender teenagers who need to suspend the progression of the biological changes in their bodies. Dr. Michael Laidlaw, an endocrinologist from Los Angeles, told Fox News that he agreed with Paxton's stipulations that the medications in question were not given FDA approval for gender dysphoria.
"Blocking normal puberty has numerous unhealthy side effects including loss of normal bone development, interference with normal brain and social development, and importantly causes infertility and sexual dysfunction," the doctor, who is not connected to the investigation, said. "Many of these effects will be irreversible."
Jesse Kahn, a sex therapist, said that the simplest way to look at how puberty blockers work is to imagine it's like a "pause button" on the body. While the changes are on pause, it provides the teenagers the opportunity to explore their identity and then decide on a gender.
Laidlaw also noted that these puberty blockers are very expensive and could cost parents between $50,000 to $210,000 in a year. At least 20 states have filed bills that aim to ban puberty blockers with Arkansas becoming the first state to pass the law. However, a judge has temporarily blocked its implementation last July.
Lowered Suicide Risks for Teens Taking Hormones
Meanwhile, a study conducted by The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ suicide prevention group, revealed that young people between the ages of 13 to 24, who are on some hormone therapy have experienced lowered incidents of depression and other mental health issues that could lead to taking their own lives. Among the 18-year-old trans, suicide attempts decreased by as much as 40 percent and at least 80 percent of the patients taking hormone therapy said that at least one of their parents support their choice.
Trevor Project head Amit Paley said that hormone therapy should be accessible to "all transgender and nonbinary youth" and it should count as part of their medical care, a basic human need. However, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health believes that hormone blockers should not be given to those who are below 18 years old, except in extreme cases.
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