Doctors Around The World Condemn Top Medical Org For Pushing Youth Sex Changes ‘Without Evidence’

Medical doctors and researchers from around the world condemned the Endocrine Society’s recent claims that cross-sex medical treatments improve the well-being of youth in an open letter published in The Wall Street Journal Thursday.

Endocrine Society President Stephen Hammes claimed earlier this month that more than 2,000 studies since 1975 proved that cross-sex medical interventions improved mental health and reduced suicide risk for transgender patients, but the open letter argued that even the Endocrine Society’s own studies contradicted this claim. Instead, every systematic review of evidence has found the evidence in support of hormonal interventions for minors to be of low or very low certainty, including one published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, according to the 21 doctors and researchers who signed the open letter.

“Dr. Hammes’s claim that gender transition reduces suicides is contradicted by every systematic review, including the review published by the Endocrine Society, which states, ‘We could not draw any conclusions about death by suicide,’” the letter read.

The doctors also pointed to risks associated with cross-sex procedures, such as sterility, medical dependence and regret. These risks, along with the low quality of evidence available to support the procedures, have motivated European countries to move away from gender transitions for minors and instead embrace psychotherapy as the first line of treatment, the doctors wrote.

Endocrinologists play a significant role in the gender transition process by prescribing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to patients. The Endocrine Society has been an outspoken advocate for youth gender transitions and recently sponsored an American Medical Association resolution ramping up the AMA’s support for cross-sex procedures for minors.

“The politicization of transgender healthcare in the U.S. is unfortunate. The way to combat it is for medical societies to align their recommendations with the best available evidence—rather than exaggerating the benefits and minimizing the risks,” the letter read.

The Endocrine Society did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.