Sir Chris Whitty, England's chief medical officer, believes far too many non-experts have thrown arguments into the debate around a puberty blocker trial for children. A clinical trial into the impacts of puberty blockers on children as young as 10 was launched in November. The trial was led by researchers at King's College London and was to be undertaken following a recommendation by the 2024 Cass Review into children's gender care.
The Cass Review concluded the quality of research claiming to show the benefits of puberty blockers for youngsters with gender dysphoria was poor. Sir Chris Whitty said the Cass Review was a very sensible review. ' He added, 'You don’t create evidence by just stating it very loudly.
You create evidence by collating what’s known. ' Sir Chris Whitty encouraged public figures to be as evidence-based as they can. The puberty blocker trial was paused last month before anyone had been recruited.
The trial was paused amid concerns about the unquantified risk of long-term biological harms. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is discussing concerns about the trial with King's College London. The MHRA has proposed raising the minimum age for the trial from 10 to 14.
Sir Chris Whitty will support a puberty blocker trial if ethical and regulatory bodies feel it is appropriate. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch expressed concern over a trial involving young children going ahead. Harry Potter author JK Rowling expressed concern over a trial involving young children going ahead.
Separately, Prof Chris Whitty, the government's chief medical officer, has issued strong warnings about the UK's approach to tackling obesity. He is sceptical about drugs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy. Prof Chris Whitty cautioned against relying too much on weight-loss drugs to treat obesity.
' This stance presents a clear contradiction with the position of Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who has hailed weight-loss drugs as a real gamechanger in tackling obesity. Prof Chris Whitty said weight-loss drugs are not benign. Weight-loss drugs produce unpleasant side-effects for many users.
He said, 'GLP-1s, they are very good drugs. [But] we know that if you stop them, the weight comes on again. Some people have very bad reactions to them.
It’s very small numbers, but they do. ' GLP-1s have been shown to increase the risk of complications such as severe acute pancreatitis, sudden sight loss, and unexpected pregnancy among women using contraception. With weight regain common after coming off GLP-1s, Prof Chris Whitty said people could end up in older age with less muscle mass and more fat than before they began taking them.
He said decades of policy in the UK to halt the rise in obesity has failed. He said he is really worried that obesity is worsening, unlike campaigns to prevent smoking and air pollution. However, he noted that other countries have succeeded in halting the rise in obesity, showing it can be done.
For example, he said in France, levels of obesity are pretty well the same now as they were in 1990. Prof Chris Whitty argued that tougher action to curb junk food advertising and make food healthier to prevent obesity would be a better course of action. He said, 'Does anyone in this group believe that the correct answer is to allow obesity to rise because of pretty aggressive marketing of obesogenic foods to children and them stick them on GLP-1 agonists at the age of 18?
' He added, 'Really, is our answer to say ‘give up on public health’, which we know will work, in children and then just rely on drugs to get us out of a hole? I do not think this is a socially acceptable answer. ' Prof Chris Whitty said reformulation definitely has a part to play in making food healthier.
He urged food firms to put less sugar and fat in their products. He warned that industries that would face tough action to improve public health use very strong lobbyists to persuade the media to run stories that then deter ministers from taking action.