A landmark study of gender medicine is caught in an ethics row
Some say the trial is unethical. Others, that not doing it would be immoral
ONE REASON that transgender medicine is such a fraught topic is that there is little evidence behind the arguments. When Hilary Cass, a British paediatrician, reviewed the field for an influential report published in 2024, she noted that most of the science underlying the prescription of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to teenagers (an approach called “gender-affirming care”) was “remarkably weak”.
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This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “Trials on trial”
From the May 3rd 2025 edition
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