Puberty blockers cause bone damage in children, should be considered ‘experimental,’ say top Swedish doctors

Swedish doctors say puberty blockers, given to some kids to transition genders, cause bone damage in children and should be considered “experimental.”

Doctors from the Karolinska Institute, a top European medical school, published their findings in April in a peer-reviewed journal, Acta Paediactra.

After their comprehensive review of available data and literature, the doctors concluded the common practice of treating children experiencing “gender dysphoria” with puberty blockers may cause irreparable bone damage and should be considered strictly “experimental,” Fox News reports.

“GnRHa treatment (puberty blockers) in children with gender dysphoria should be considered experimental treatment of individual cases rather than standard procedure,” the article states. 

Puberty blockers work by constant stimulation of the pituitary gland, which suppresses the body’s normal production of sex hormones. But, the doctors say, the treatments delay the normal bone maturation process and buildup of mineral deposits, which can lead to osteopenia and eventually osteoporosis. 

Further, they say the damage may only be partially repaired by age 22, with discontinuation of the puberty blockers and the introduction of cross-sex hormones. Yet the doctors warn they are unsure how well the damage can be repaired. 

This news appears to confirm what the medical community in Sweden, which has been raising red flags about these damaging treatments for some time now, already suspected. 

In a 2021 interview on the Swedish television program Mission Investigate, one of the institute’s researchers and pediatric endocrinologist Ricard Nergårdh called the use of such druges “chemical castration.” He also said the drugs can cause “unintended” mental health issues.  

“What we call GnRH treatment is chemical castration. And it can affect mental health in an unintended, undesirable way,” the doctor said. “So, it’s very important that the patient and the patient’s family are informed about this. I’m very worried about it, and I think I’m not alone in that.”