FDA Must Investigate ‘Homebrewed’ Transgender Hormones, Watchdog Says
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FDA Must Investigate ‘Homebrewed’ Transgender Hormones, Watchdog Says

A medical watchdog is calling on the Food and Drug Administration to investigate companies that allow Americans to purchase sex-rejecting drugs without a prescription, in pursuit of transgender identity. Do No Harm released a report titled “The Lack of Barriers to Minors Ordering Cross-Sex Hormones Online” Tuesday. It highlights certain websites that may enable minors to obtain estrogen and testosterone from online pharmacies and other sources that do not appear to require prescriptions or age verification. Dr. Kurt Miceli, a psychiatrist and chief medical officer at Do No Harm, blamed the transgender movement—specifically the Human Rights Campaign and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health—for creating the conditions behind this phenomenon. “The unfortunate reality is that these online vendors have gained a market due to the normalization of dangerous hormonal interventions as ‘gender-affirming care’ and the resulting growth of the child transgender industry more broadly,” he told The Daily Signal. “Activist organizations like the Human Rights Campaign and ideologically motivated groups like WPATH have succeeded in selling experimental, irreversible procedures as medically necessary treatments for children,” Miceli noted. “Is it any wonder that minors believe this to be true, and may be turning to alternative sources that don’t require prescriptions?” “Our report reveals how online pharmacies may enable minors to obtain cross-sex hormones with alarming ease,” Miceli said in a separate statement on the report. “From websites listing online vendors across the globe to marketplaces for ‘homebrewed’ hormones, we found a multitude of troubling pathways that appear to bypass basic safeguards and regulatory oversight.” “Gender-confused kids should not be able to purchase potent, experimental medications with just a few simple clicks,” he added. “These hormones carry significant risks, including effects that can be irreversible. We urge the FDA and other federal agencies to investigate any potential unlawful sellers and, where appropriate, for states to do the same when their laws are being violated.” Transgender ‘Medicine’ Under Fire While activists claim that teens who suffer from gender dysphoria—the painful and persistent condition of identifying with the gender opposite one’s sex—need experimental medical interventions to prevent suicide, the Department of Health and Human Services concluded there is little evidence for positive impacts from such “treatments” for minors. Studies have shown concrete harms from these drugs, however. One study found that males who identify as transgender and take estrogen in order to appear female face higher risks of infertility, diabetes, testicular and breast cancer, and early death. An FDA study found that suicidal thoughts actually increase among kids who take so-called puberty blockers. A jury concluded that medical professionals had engaged in malpractice when cutting off the breasts of a young woman who later rejected her transgender identity. The jury ordered them to pay her $2 million. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons released a statement recommending against transgender surgery for minors under 19, leading other medical associations to follow suit. Many states passed laws protecting minors from sex-rejecting procedures, and that helps explain why companies may offer minors a way to obtain these drugs without a prescription. ‘Homebrewed’ Transgender Drugs The Do No Harm report reveals major hubs from which users can obtain drugs for “hormone replacement therapy” or HRT. “A cursory internet search for information related to pediatric medical transition reveals a host of resources directing users to online pharmacies, distribution networks for ‘homebrewed’ hormones, and guides on self-administering cross-sex hormones,” the report states. The website Transgender Map, for example, says it aims to inform readers about “how to make a gender transition,” and lists several online pharmacies located on multiple continents. The website includes this disclaimer: “getting hormones without a prescription is against the law.” HRT.Coffee and HRT Cafe provide information on pharmacies and hormone vendors, including accepted payment methods, country of origin, and product details. HRT Cafe includes a list of “unregulated” online pharmacies where users can purchase hormones online, and the website states that the pharmacies do not require prescriptions. As of Tuesday morning, HRT Cafe appears to be offline. Do No Harm visited several of the listed pharmacies’ websites, and says many of them “do not appear to require a prescription or verification of a customer’s age at any point before prompting the customer to submit payment information.” The Mexican pharmacy MedsMex ships to the U.S. and explicitly states on the website that it requires “No prescription to purchase any medicines in our pharmacy.” Inhouse Pharmacy, based in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, states that it is “permitted to process your order without a prescription.” The Daily Signal reached out to Andrea James (who runs Transgender Map), HRT.Coffee, HRT Cafe, MedsMex, and Inhouse Pharmacy for comment, and none responded by publication time. Neither the Human Rights Campaign nor WPATH responded to requests for comment. The Food and Drug Administration also did not respond by publication time. Do No Harm Pharmacies No PrescriptionDownload The post FDA Must Investigate ‘Homebrewed’ Transgender Hormones, Watchdog Says appeared first on The Daily Signal.