The UK’s NHS has approved two clinical trials to test puberty blockers on children, including participants as young as 10

The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) has approved two clinical trials to study the effects of puberty blockers on children, involving up to 226 participants, with some as young as 10 years old.

The trials, set to begin recruitment in early 2026, aim to “gather evidence” on the impacts of these drugs after a ban on their routine NHS prescription earlier this year.

They will be injected with the drugs to examine whether they could safely be used in future to help young people change their bodies and become more like the gender they self-identify as, rather than their gender at birth. Researchers dismissed accusations that the trial could amount to ‘coercing’ children into taking the drugs, which potentially damage fertility, bone density and brain development. They insisted it is the ‘most rigorous and safest study design’ which will involve ‘close monitoring’ of any potential side-effects and risks.

Campaigners branded the study’s launch ‘outrageous’, saying it should be halted.