Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, said in a letter to the National Institutes of Health on Monday that the National Institutes of Health does not accept puberty blockers, which can be given to minors as part of so-called gender-affirming care. He suggested that it may be hiding the effects of many drugs. Director obtained by Daily Signal.
In his letter to NIH Director Dr. Monica Bertagnoli, Rubio specifically highlighted NIH-funded research by Dr. Joanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director of the Trans Youth Health Development Center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. are collecting.
The Obama administration decided to support Olson-Kennedy’s research more than nine years ago, but the results have not yet been made public for fear of political repercussions.
Rubio said Olson-Kennedy was hired by the NIH to study the effects on the physical and mental health of children receiving puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone therapy as part of their “transition” to the opposite sex. He wrote that he was part of a group of researchers who received about $6 million.
Outlining some of the findings in a 2020 report, Dr. Olson-Kennedy found that about a quarter of the transgender children studied experienced depression and suicidal thoughts. He said there was.
According to ” [Olson-Kennedy]”She is concerned that the results of this study could be used to show that puberty blockers do not improve the mental health of young people,” Rubio wrote.
If the results of the NIH-funded Olson-Kennedy study are being suppressed, Rubio writes, the doctor is “wearing a mask.”[ing] A political ideology cloaked in scientific validity. ”
In response to a possible cover-up, Rubio asked the National Institutes of Health to investigate Olson-Kennedy and other researchers in the group to determine whether they were intentionally withholding information about the harmful effects of puberty blockers. , and demands that we clarify how left-wing political bias can affect society. Quality of published NIH studies.
