A who’s who of transgender activists was scheduled this week to meet in Geneva at the World Health Organization to develop new guidelines on “the health of trans and gender-diverse people.” We can presume the meeting took place‚ even though public notice of it didn’t appear on the U.N. website listing meetings and conferences. Until recently‚ the international classification system of diseases treated gender confusion as a mental or behavioral disorder. But in 2019‚ the new edition of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11) replaced “transsexualism” with the concept of “gender incongruence.” It moved its discussion to a chapter on sexual health. The purpose of that change was clear; specifically‚ to destigmatize transgender identities. According to the WHO‚ gender “refers to the characteristics of women‚ men‚ girls and boys that are socially constructed.” The United Nations‚ of which WHO is a prominent agency‚ claims that “gender identity” refers to a person’s “deeply felt internal and individual experience of gender.” That may involve “modification of bodily appearance or function by medical‚ surgical or other means.” It still concedes that sex is a real thing‚ but that concession does nothing to slow its headlong rush to embrace gender ideology. Clearly‚ the WHO is trying to create a document to endorse “gender-affirming care.” Then it can push such official guidelines on health systems throughout the world. How can we tell this is an ideological campaign? We need look no further than the biographies of the guidance development group‚ which reveal a rogues’ gallery of gender ideologues. The Heritage Foundation noted that in a comment it submitted to the WHO earlier this year. (The Daily Signal is the news outlet of The Heritage Foundation.) Take‚ for example‚ Chris McLachlan‚ a South African woman who identifies as a man and serves on the board of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (a group that pushes gender quackery). Another member‚ Cianán Russell‚ is a policy officer with ILGA Europe and claims to be “nonbinary.” The group drafting the new guidelines lacks any doctors who are critical of the “gender affirming” model of treating patients with gender dysphoria. Nor does it include any detransitioners‚ who regret their use of cross-sex hormones and invasive surgical procedures.  This push to develop gender medicine guidelines seems to violate the WHO’s own standards for developing guidance. The U.N. considers access to evidence-based medical care as part of the right to health. Its rules require‚ then‚ that any group issuing guidelines be unbiased‚ and that its recommendations be grounded in solid evidence. It’s no surprise‚ then‚ that many physicians have criticized this WHO plan. And while gender ideology has corrupted much of the U.N. human rights apparatus‚ the special rapporteur on violence against women and girls has been an outlier. Reem Alsalem still believes that women and girls deserve protection‚ privacy and single-sex spaces. She penned an open letter to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus‚ director-general of the WHO‚ objecting to the group’s biased makeup and its disregard for women’s rights. To judge from its stated agenda‚ the group is poised to call for all U.N. member states to recognize individuals’ “self-determined gender identity” in domestic laws‚ policies and health care systems. But that’s not a health or medical issue. It’s a political goal rooted in gender ideology. Gender ideologues claim that when someone’s “gender identity” and biological sex conflict‚ governments should recognize the former‚ not the latter. That requires that men who identify as women be legally recognized as women‚ and vice versa. It erases the legal mechanisms that have preserved women-only spaces‚ such as restrooms‚ domestic-abuse shelters and prisons. This is already happening in Western countries‚ where such policies permit men to compete in female sports and require that women undress in changing rooms with men who identify as women. These policies are the direct result of replacing “sex”—or what used to be its synonym‚ “gender”—with self-defined “gender identity” in nondiscrimination laws.  This ideology is unscientific and incoherent. But whatever its merits‚ such political and metaphysical questions are clearly outside the competence and mandate of the World Health Organization. The group is also considering classifying cross-sex hormones as “essential medications” that countries must make widely available. This classification is applied to medicines used for pain relief‚ surgery‚ treating mental health conditions and palliative care. The off-label use of cross-sex hormones is a far cry from medications such as morphine‚ acetaminophen or lorazepam. This isn’t the first time that the World Health Organization has misused this designation. During the COVID-19 pandemic‚ the Global Humanitarian Response Plan treated “sexual and reproductive health services” as “essential.” It added mifepristone and misoprostol‚ used for chemical abortions‚ to the essential medications list so women could “self-manage some or all stages of a medical abortion … in the comfort of their own home.” A WHO claim that cross-sex hormones are “essential” would be a medical disaster. It would help spread the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones like a contagion across the world. But we know that this is not good medicine. There are many known health risks associated with “gender affirmation” interventions—and likely countless unknown risks. For example‚ cross-sex hormones cause sterilization when used for an extended period. Other risks include bone loss‚ loss of brain function‚ worsened mental health‚ increased cardiac risks and increased risk of cancer. Several European countries are starting to question these interventions for their own minors. Why would the WHO push them now? Under the cover of its work on combating HIV‚ Western gender activists and wealthy donors appear to be trying to funnel these drugs and medical interventions to the developing world. Despite its medical pretense‚ this looks more like a coordinated campaign to promote gender ideology around the world. Wealthy donor countries should not use the WHO to bully other countries into adopting these radical interventions. Many countries around the world struggle with real‚ dire health emergencies‚ such as tuberculosis‚ malaria‚ HIV and malnutrition. They look to the World Health Organization for sound medical guidance and critical aid dollars. Imposing experimental gender medicine on the very places that depend on financial and medical aid is public health blackmail. The WHO should disband this cabal of activists. The world’s poor need unbiased and evidence-based health advice‚ not the gender fixations of a narrow band of elites in the developed world. Have an opinion about this article? To sound off‚ please email letters@DailySignal.com and we’ll consider publishing your edited remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature. Remember to include the url or headline of the article plus your name and town and/or state. The post WHO Enlists Radical Gender Activists to Develop New Guidelines on Trans ‘Health’ appeared first on The Daily Signal.

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The supernova 1987a left behind a neutron star‚ and the JWST has finally found it‚ offering astronomers their best chance to examine the early days of this astronomical phenomenon. Although older supernova remnants within our own galaxy provide much closer opportunities to study matter in its most extreme form‚ this helps build a picture of the explosion on which we have the most detailed data.Supernovae formed by the deaths of giant stars produce either neutron stars or black holes‚ depending on the mass and composition of their progenitor. In 1987‚ for the first time‚ we had archival images of the progenitor star before the explosion‚ and its estimated mass indicated a neutron star was more likely. The length of the neutrino burst that accompanied the explosion – and transformed our knowledge of these cryptic particles – also favored a neutron star.Astronomers have sought this legacy object ever since‚ but have found only indirect evidence in the form of a pulsar wind nebula‚ which some neutron stars create. The JWST has changed that‚ according to newly published research.The clouds of gas and dust thrown off by SN 1987a have been a popular target for telescopes that can see the southern skies since the event. JWST joined in soon after its operations began‚ revealing the keyhole and rings at infrared wavelengths. It also found crescent structures that had not been seen before‚ and hints that raised hopes of spotting the neutron star itself.Now‚ a team including Professor Mike Barlow of University College London has detected emission lines from highly ionized argon and sulfur in those observations. Although not coming from the object itself‚ the radiation from these gases indicates they are being lit up by a source of X-rays and ultraviolet light. Neutron stars have two processes by which they can produce this sort of high-energy radiation‚ but black holes have none.“This radiation can be emitted from the million degree surface of the hot neutron star‚ as well as by a pulsar wind nebula that could have been created if the neutron star is rapidly spinning and dragging charged particles around it‚” Barlow said in a statement. Settling which is responsible will be a priority in the future.Finding the neutron stars within supernova remnants can be a challenge; before they die‚ the stars that become supernova often throw off enormous amounts of material which can hide what is occurring at the core. In the case of 1987a‚ this is complicated further by an equatorial ring‚ thought to be made up of material thrown off 20‚000 years ago when the star that became 1987a swallowed a companion. Some of the ejecta thrown off by 1987a’s progenitor has collided with the equatorial ring at such high speed it has produced X-rays. Previous observations had picked up radiation from argon illuminated by X-rays‚ but had not been able to tell if these were from the suspected neutron star or equatorial ring collisions.The JWST’s superb resolution has changed this‚ revealing a component whose distribution and blueshift show it to be coming from the remnant’s center. The fact that only argon and sulfur were detected in this way is also telling. Both are produced by the fusion of oxygen and silicon and therefore are found towards the inner core of supernova ejecta‚ being produced very late in the pre-supernova process. For these gases to be lit up by something behind them‚ from our perspective‚ the source must be at the very heart of the remnant.The amount of blueshift in the emission lines indicates the neutron star experienced a “natal kick”. This is a common phenomenon for black holes and neutron stars‚ leaving them moving compared to the average of the surrounding material.The study has been published in the journal Science.

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