France cautions on gender youth medicine/France met en garde contre la medicine des jeunes de genre

Reprinted from the Society for Evidence Based Gender Medicine. Read the full English translation on SEGM’s website, which also links to the French original.

The National Academy of Medicine in France has issued a press release in which it cautions medical practitioners that the growing cases of transgender identity in young people are often socially-mediated and that great caution in treatment is needed. The Academy draws attention to the fact that hormonal and surgical treatments carry health risks and have permanent effects, and that it is not possible to distinguish a durable trans identity from a passing phase of an adolescent’s development.

SEGM has translated the press release, which is provided in full below. Both the original press release in French, and its unofficial SEGM translation are appended.

This press release was adopted by the National Academy of Medicine, France on February 25, 2022, with 59 votes in favor, 20 votes against, and 13 abstaining. It was approved in its revised version by the Administrative Council on February 28, 2022.

The National Academy of Medicine draws the medical community’s attention to the growing demand for care in the context of transgender identity in children and adolescents, and recommends the following:

• Children and adolescents expressing a desire to transition, as well as their families, should receive extended psychological support;
• Should the desire to transition persist, the decision to treat with puberty blockers or cross sex-hormones must be considered carefully and within the framework of multidisciplinary consultations;
• Medical studies should include clinical information specifically adapted for informing and guiding young people and their families;
• Continued research into both, clinical and biological, as well as ethical aspects of this matter, still lacking in France, is needed;
• Parents addressing their children’s questions about transgender identity or associated distress should remain vigilant regarding the addictive role of excessive engagement with social media, which is both harmful to the psychological development of young people and is responsible for a very significant part of the growing sense of gender incongruence.

Read the full English translation on SEGM’s website, which also links to the French original.