98%: Is misinformation being spread about a review of trans youth medicine?

More or Less: Behind the Stats

BBC

Business, Mathematics, Science, News Commentary, News

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2024

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Cass Review is an independent report on the state of gender identity services for under-18s in England’s NHS.

It found children had been let down by a lack of research and "remarkably weak" evidence on medical interventions in gender care.

But before it was even released, claims were circulating online that it ignored 98% of the evidence in reaching its conclusion.

Is that claim true?

We speak to Dr Hilary Cass, the author of the review, Professor Catherine Hewitt of York University, who analysed the scientific research, and Kamran Abbasi, editor in chief of the British Medical Journal.

Presenter: Kate Lamble Producer: Tom Colls Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown Sound Mix: James Beard Editor: Richard Vadon

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.6	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.4	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable
0:14.3	experts and genuinely engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC
0:20.4	makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,
0:33.0	find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:36.1	Hello and thanks for downloading the more or less podcast.
0:39.7	We are a weekly guide to the numbers in the news and in life and I'm Kate
0:43.8	Lamble. Last week saw the publication of the Cass Review, a landmark
0:50.3	independent review in England of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People.
0:55.8	Now these services treat those who feel a difference between their experienced gender
1:00.2	and registered sex.
1:01.6	Many would identify as transgender.
1:04.0	The review came after years of controversy centered around medical treatment,
1:08.0	including drugs which delay the onset of puberty
1:11.0	or the use of hormones like testosterone or estrogen.
1:14.8	The CAF review found children and young people had been let down by a lack of research and
1:19.6	remarkably weak evidence on medical interventions in this area.
1:23.7	This work has been extremely influential.
1:26.7	The National Health Service in England has stopped prescribing puberty blockers to these groups
	...

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