Critics warn move could have devastating impact on lives and wellbeing of those affected
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Do not put words in my mouth to present a false dilemma.
Naturally I hope this medication is found to be safe for this purpose after further study. However, these processes are stringent for a reason, because the possibility of it proving to be unsafe after being in widespread use for many years could have disastrous consequences on the health of a large number of people. The history of medicine is full of such cautionary tales.
The health consequences, as I said, is something we can deal with as we figure out safer methods for puberty blocking if that turns out to be the case.
I’d rather take puberty blockers being unsafe, find out better ways to deal with this problem later on, and deal with the health problems of existing patients over the alternative.
The alternative is having no patients to treat from puberty blocker issues, because the dysphoria got to them.
You could make the case for any medicine we use in mental healthcare: we don’t understand the risks and longterm effects, but it usually ends up that “adverse health effects way down the line” is preferable to “preventable suicide”.
People spout this same bullshit to be anti vaccines, anti fluorine in water, anti everything they don’t fully understand.
NOTHING. And I mean NOTHING in medicine is ever going to be 100% safe or won’t have side effects or always be understood.
But if you think banning life-saving medicine is better because “what if these people suffer from health issues later” idk what to say.