Do No Harm Calls on NIH to Fund Research Into Harms of Puberty Blockers, Shutter DEI Office

Do No Harm Director of Research Ian Kingsbury submitted comments on July 15, 2024 to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommending the agency prioritize funding research into the negative effects of medical transitions on children.

NIH’s Sexual & Gender Minority Research Office (SGMRO) had solicited comments for its “NIH-Wide Strategic Plan for Sexual and Gender Minority Health Research for Fiscal Years 2026–2030,” an initiative to inform how the agency invested in research on “sexual and gender minorities” such as lesbian, gay and transgender individuals. Kingsbury urged the NIH to fund research on “the effects of exogenous hormones or puberty blockers on the developing brain,” as well as to approach the field of pediatric gender medicine with general skepticism.

“Several European nations (e.g. United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden) that have conducted systematic evidence reviews have concluded that the risks of medical transition outweigh the benefits for youths and adolescents,” Kingsbury noted. “These countries have severely curbed access to puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones.”

Kingsbury also recommended the agency fund research into social contagion, a theory of gender dysphoria which argues that the increase in individuals seeking to medically transition is partly due to the spread of gender ideology.

Kingsbury further urged the NIH to purge the politicized, left-wing elements of its agency and partner with organizations that are skeptical of pediatric gender medicine, including Do No Harm, Genspect, and the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine.

“The NIH Office of Equity, Diversion, and Inclusion should be shuttered,” Kingsbury wrote. “Time and again, we observe that DEI officials act as political commissars who enforce progressive orthodoxy and punish those who stray from it. Rigorous and impactful research should not be constrained by the possibility that it might hurt somebody’s feelings.”

There is no strong evidence to support medically transitioning children. The Cass Report, an exhaustive review of gender medicine for children in the United Kingdom published earlier this year, found that there is “remarkably weak evidence” to support the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to treat children with gender dysphoria.

However, the Biden administration has repeatedly advocated for the medical transition of children, and has opposed states’ attempts to limit minor access to puberty blockers and hormones.

In 2022, President Joe Biden issued an executive order directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand access to so-called “gender-affirming care.”

“For transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, early gender-affirming care is crucial to overall health and well-being as it allows the child or adolescent to focus on social transitions and can increase their confidence while navigating the healthcare system,” the HHS stated in 2022.

Moreover, Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine pressured the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) to “remove recommended minimum ages for medical transition treatments” from its published guidelines for gender medicine, according to unsealed court documents.

Kingsbury and Do No Harm are calling on the NIH to maintain its focus on treating illness, and to approach pediatric gender medicine with well-warranted skepticism.