The number of teenagers taking puberty blockers has increased by almost 60% in three years. This is what De Morgen writes this Thursday. These are medications that prevent the development of sex hormones and may thus contribute to gender transition.
In 2019, 432 young people under the age of 18 were prescribed puberty blockers. This number increased to 684 in 2022, according to a response from Federal Health Minister Frank Vandenbroucke (Vooruit) to a parliamentary question from Kathleen Depoorter (N-VA).
Ms Depoorter considers this sharp increase “alarming”. “It’s not just a syringe. With these medications, you interrupt an important moment in the body’s development. I wonder if we shouldn’t be more careful, especially since the usefulness and safety of these inhibitors has been the subject of discussion in Europe for some time“, she says.
Both the pediatric endocrinologist at UZ Gent, Martine Cools, and the Minister of Public Health, Vandenbroucke, emphasize that this approach is not taken lightly.
“We only start doing this when we have explored all the other possibilities“, says Cools. Of all the people who come forward, 8% end up taking puberty blockers, a figure that matches that of countries with stricter guidelines.