In updated guidelines last month, the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW) recommended "restraint" regarding cross-sex hormones and puberty blockers for children, pointing to significant side-effect risks and "uncertain science."

Hormonal interventions will be now prohibited entirely for minors who develop gender dysphoria after the start of puberty, NBHW said, and otherwise may only be used in research settings or "exceptional cases." Gender dysphoria is a mental illness due to a so-called "gender identity" at odds with an individual's biological sex.

The risks of hormone drugs "outweigh the possible benefits," the NBHW concluded. The agency had previously approved the drugs for gender-confused children in 2015.

The Society for Evidence-based Gender Medicine (SEGM), an international non-profit organization of more than 100 physicians and researchers, welcomed Sweden's reversal as an "impressive step."

The new guidance means that eligibility for "puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in Sweden will be sharply curtailed," the group said in a post last week. "The update to the Swedish treatment guidelines represents an impressive step toward safeguarding the growing numbers of gender dysphoric youth from medical harm arising from inappropriate gender transition."

"SEGM hopes that other countries will follow Sweden's example, independently examining the body of evidence and issuing evidence-based guidelines for medical care," the organization said.

The NBHW guidelines cited an evidence review last month by the Swedish Board of Medical and Social Evaluation (SBU), which found that there have never been any quality studies on the use of hormone drugs in children with gender dysphoria. The review added that long-term effects of the drugs, including on cognitive function and body mass, still can't be determined.

Puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones are both linked to serious and potentially life-threatening side effects, such as heart attack, increased risk of stroke, osteoporosis, and liver problems, as well as sterility and other fertility issues... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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