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  "path": "/politics/nhs-puberty-blocker-trial-legal-challenge-children-safety-streeting-nesbitt",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-15T11:31:06.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "Keir Starmer's 'desperate politics' torn apart by Priti Patel: 'A failing Prime Minister'",
    "Keir Starmer scrambles to sign Britain up to EU's net zero rules amid fears 'it will make UK poorer'",
    "Wes Streeting plots to beat Angela Rayner in race to topple Keir Starmer as date set to oust PM",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nNorthern Ireland has dramatically paused its involvement in a controversial UK-wide puberty blocker trial, piling fresh pressure on the Government to halt the scheme altogether.\n\nStormont Health Minister Mike Nesbitt confirmed he is suspending Northern Ireland’s participation in the so-called Pathways trial pending the outcome of a judicial review now before the courts.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\"Having taken account of the ongoing Judicial Review into the UK Government’s clinical trial of puberty blockers, I have decided to suspend Northern Ireland's agreement to participate in the UK-wide trial until the legal process has concluded,\" he said.\n\nThe £10.7million study – the largest of its kind – aims to recruit around 220 children under 16 experiencing gender distress.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nParticipants would be randomly assigned to begin puberty blockers either immediately or after a 12-month delay, with researchers tracking their physical, emotional and cognitive development into early adulthood.\n\nThe intervention in Northern Ireland comes just days after campaigners launched a High Court challenge to block the trial entirely.\n\nAn emergency injunction is now being prepared in a bid to prevent recruitment, which has already been delayed until April.\n\nPsychotherapist James Esses, who is bringing the legal action alongside detransitioner Keira Bell, said: \"We don’t want a single person to be recruited for this trial.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nOpposition has surged nationwide. More than 137,000 people signed a petition against the trial within 72 hours, including JK Rowling, who described it as \"an unethical experiment on children who can’t give meaningful consent\".\n\nA cross-party group of MPs has also demanded an immediate pause.\n\nIn a letter coordinated by MP Rosie Duffield and sent to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, parliamentarians warned pressing ahead could be a \"dangerous mistake\" with potentially devastating consequences for children’s physical and psychological health.\n\nThe letter was signed by MPs including Tom Tugendhat, Rebecca Paul, Sarah Pochin, Rupert Lowe, Iqbal Mohamed and Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Ludford.\n\n### LATEST DEVELOPMENTS\n\n\n\n\n  * Keir Starmer's 'desperate politics' torn apart by Priti Patel: 'A failing Prime Minister'\n  * Keir Starmer scrambles to sign Britain up to EU's net zero rules amid fears 'it will make UK poorer'\n  * Wes Streeting plots to beat Angela Rayner in race to topple Keir Starmer as date set to oust PM\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMr Streeting banned the routine prescription of puberty blockers for under-18s in gender medicine last year following safety concerns raised by paediatrician Dr Hilary Cass in her landmark review.\n\nHowever, Dr Cass recommended a tightly controlled clinical trial to address gaps in the evidence base.\n\nDefending the scheme, Mr Streeting has insisted it is grounded in rigorous ethics and clinical oversight.\n\n\"I am following clinical advice in this area and I have tried to take the politics out of it entirely,\" he previously said, stressing children would undergo extensive physical and mental health assessments and require parental consent before participation.\n\nBut speaking on Sunday, Dr Cass said children have been \"weaponised\" by both sides of a toxic debate about transgender rights.\n\n\"People at the extremes\" had caused \"quite a lot of distress for young people\", she told the BBC.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nShe pointed to a \"lack of realism about what transition would really mean and how hard it would be\", noting a \"quite intensive medical treatments\" and \"sometimes quite brutal surgeries\".\n\nShe added: \"There are a tiny number of people who will never be comfortable with their biological sex, with the gender associated with their biological sex.\n\n\"And for them, a medical pathway is the only way they're going to live their life comfortably. And we don't understand why that is, but we have to try and help those people thrive as much as the young people who are going to grow out of this.\"\n\nIn Northern Ireland, a parallel review found that many children presenting with gender-related distress had histories of trauma, bullying and autism spectrum disorder, and were commonly aged 12 to 13.\n\nIt also raised safeguarding concerns, including the need to examine \"parental motivations\" in some cases.\n\nMr Nesbitt’s move has been welcomed within his party, with several colleagues voicing unease about pharmaceutical interventions for minors.\n\nWith a parliamentary debate looming and legal proceedings underway, the future of the UK’s most ambitious puberty blocker trial now hangs in the balance.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter**",
  "title": "NHS puberty blocker trial PAUSED in Northern Ireland amid legal challenge over children’s safety"
}