Peters said New Zealand First was the only party that travelled the country calling for an end to puberty blockers for children, and the announcement delivered on that commitment.
He said it was commonsense to pause the use of the drugs until the results of a clinical trial in the United Kingdom were completed. Peters said the treatment carried uncertainty and potential harm for young people. He said the decision reflected a promise made and a promise kept.
The Government confirmed that Cabinet had agreed to introduce new safeguards on the prescribing of gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said the change ensured families could have confidence that any treatment was clinically sound and in the best interests of young people.
New patients seeking treatment for gender dysphoria or incongruence will no longer be able to access gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues. The change will not affect those already receiving treatment.
Brown said there was a lack of high quality evidence on the benefits or risks of puberty blockers in this context, and the Government was taking a precautionary approach.
He said the medicines would remain available for medical conditions where strong evidence existed, including early onset puberty, endometriosis, and prostate cancer.
Cabinet has agreed that the Ministry of Health will review the prescribing settings once the results of the United Kingdom clinical trial are available. The changes will take effect on 19 December 2025.
The move aligns New Zealand with recent steps taken in the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Broadcaster Chris Lynch is an award winning journalist who also produces Christchurch news and video content for domestic and international companies. This article was originally published by Chris Lynch Media and is published here with kind permission.
He said it was commonsense to pause the use of the drugs until the results of a clinical trial in the United Kingdom were completed. Peters said the treatment carried uncertainty and potential harm for young people. He said the decision reflected a promise made and a promise kept.
The Government confirmed that Cabinet had agreed to introduce new safeguards on the prescribing of gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues.
Health Minister Simeon Brown said the change ensured families could have confidence that any treatment was clinically sound and in the best interests of young people.
New patients seeking treatment for gender dysphoria or incongruence will no longer be able to access gonadotropin releasing hormone analogues. The change will not affect those already receiving treatment.
Brown said there was a lack of high quality evidence on the benefits or risks of puberty blockers in this context, and the Government was taking a precautionary approach.
He said the medicines would remain available for medical conditions where strong evidence existed, including early onset puberty, endometriosis, and prostate cancer.
Cabinet has agreed that the Ministry of Health will review the prescribing settings once the results of the United Kingdom clinical trial are available. The changes will take effect on 19 December 2025.
The move aligns New Zealand with recent steps taken in the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Broadcaster Chris Lynch is an award winning journalist who also produces Christchurch news and video content for domestic and international companies. This article was originally published by Chris Lynch Media and is published here with kind permission.
3 comments:
AT LAST the State is shouldering its duty of care to its youngest members. What we need to do now is go further and block access to young impressionable minds by those who intend to subvert their normal mental and physical development. This too is already happening in a number of European countries.
Read Eva Corlett’s recent Guardian piece on puberty blockers and you’d think New Zealand is a country actively harming its children. “Devastating impact,” “worsening mental health,” “increased suicidality” — the adjectives tumble across the screen like a bad weather forecast for the nation.
The piece cites gender-health advocates and left-wing MPs, and leaves it there.
The Numbers? Tiny. Only 113 young people in 2023 were prescribed these drugs, down from 140 in 2021. Ongoing treatment for existing patients continues. But those details are swallowed by the narrative.
A pause championed by NZ First and mirrored in international precedent — the UK, Finland, Norway, Sweden? You’d never know it from Corlett’s report.
The government’s precautionary pause becomes a “ban,” imposed on innocent, vulnerable youth, a catastrophic intervention born of bigotry and political spite.
Meanwhile, local “experts” in the media dutifully play their part. Otago University’s Dr Rona Carroll tells rnz it’s a “shockingly inappropriate overreach of politics into healthcare.” Christchurch’s Dame Sue Bagshaw warns of mental-health fallout. Bay of Plenty clinician Dr Massimo Giola worries that allowing biological puberty to proceed will drive teenagers to self-harm. Maybe.
But the framing is identical in every case: small numbers become existential crisis, government action becomes villainy. Not a single dissenting academic, conservative group, or NZ First voice in sight.
Taken together, an international reader would assume New Zealand is a nation that harms its children, and indulges in political cruelty as Chloe swarbrick perpetually insists.
Corlett’s pattern is consistent: selective sourcing, emotive framing, moral accusation, and the steady drip-feed impression that the country is chronically, culturally defective.
In short: a modest, globally aligned precaution becomes, in Corlett’s hands, proof of a nation in crisis. New Zealand, as seen through the Guardian’s lens, is always on trial — and always guilty.
In reality? New Zealand made a cautious, internationally aligned clinical decision affecting a tiny number of people. But to acknowledge that would ruin the story.
And with the Guardian, the story — not all the facts and journalistic balance — is the product.
—PB
A comment from The Guardian.... so, zero credibility. Say no more.
Post a Comment
Thanks for engaging in the debate!
Because this is a public forum, we will only publish comments that are respectful and do NOT contain links to other sites. We appreciate your cooperation.