2 Youths Commit Suicide in Taxpayer-Funded Trans-Hormone Experiment, Lawmakers Demand Answers

Fifteen House and Senate Republicans sent a letter earlier this month to the acting director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) demanding answers about a study it funded titled Psychosocial Functioning in Transgender Youth after 2 Years of Hormones that focused mostly on minors. 

According to an exclusive report by The Daily Signal, the minors were given cross-sex hormones over the course of two years. Two of the study's participants committed suicide, 11 others experienced suicidal ideation (a broad term used to describe a range of contemplations, wishes, and preoccupations with death and suicide, according to the NIH), and the drugs participants took will likely sterilize them, the Republicans' letter said.

U.S. Rep Josh Brecheen (R-OK) and Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) led the lawmakers who signed the letter. 

The query sent to Dr. Lawrence Tabak cited "grave concerns" about the study, and also noted that 240 of the 315 participants were minors, according to the outlet. 

The lawmakers also cited a report from the medical organization Do No Harm, which found the study "fatally flawed and borderline unscientific," The Daily Signal reported. 

"It is sickening that the federal government is preying on young people and using our taxpayer dollars to advance its radical gender ideology," Brecheen said in a statement to The Daily Signal. "We are rightfully demanding answers from NIH and we are committed to holding those responsible accountable for this tragic loss of life."

The study, published by The New England Journal of Medicine in January, was conducted by the Boston Children's Hospital, the University of California at San Francisco, and the Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. The three organizations received a $477,444 five-year grant from the NIH for the project. 

The Republicans' letter noted the four clinics and some of the researchers who conducted the study are "outspoken advocates for conducting gender transition interventions on children," according to The Daily Signal. 

"In a video it later removed from its YouTube channel, Boston Children's Hospital, one of the clinics involved, went as far as to claim that children can know their gender identity 'from the womb.' Johanna Olson, a co-author of this paper, told CNN in 2014, 'We're definitely in the middle of a gender revolution and it's exciting.' This same researcher later received a federal grant for a study in which she altered protocol to allow children as young as 8 years old to receive cross-sex hormones," the letter explained.  

The study reportedly had 315 subjects between the ages of 12 and 20, who identified as transgender and nonbinary. During the two-year project, each of the subjects received hormones to make their bodies mirror the bodies of the opposite sex. 

"During the study period, appearance congruence, positive affect, and life satisfaction increased, and depression and anxiety symptoms decreased," the researchers' article claimed, even though 11 of the study subjects experienced suicidal thoughts and two committed suicide. 

"Rather than shutting the study down after such serious adverse events, the researchers published their paper, concluding that the study was a success because cross-sex hormones had altered subjects' physical appearance and improved psychosocial functioning," the lawmakers' letter said. "However, the researchers admitted that they were not able to properly establish causality between the administration of cross-sex hormones and improved psychosocial functioning because their study lacked a control group."

The researchers have been "in search of an agenda and justifying an agenda, they're not really about children's safety as we've seen from the suicides," Budd told Fox News. He described the study as "absolutely tragic."

The letter asked Tabak, by June 9, to provide responses to questions such as, "Were the individuals who tragically died by suicide while participating in this study minors?" and "Were participants and their parents given the opportunity to reconsider their consent and withdraw from this research in light of the suicides?" according to Fox News. 

Other GOP lawmakers who signed the letter include Florida Sen. Mark Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, North Carolina Sen. Michael Lee, Illinois U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, Colorado U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, Texas U.S. Reps. Chip Roy. Andy Biggs, Ronnie L. Jackson, Michael Cloud, and Randy Weber; Arizona U.S. Rep. Eli Crane, and South Carolina U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan.

CBN News reached out to the NIH for comment. The NIH did not address questions about the safety of the minors involved in the study, but the government agency did provide a statement defending its practices, saying, "NIH funds observational research studies to learn about the potential health risks and benefits for those already undergoing treatment."

"In general, NIH does not take positions on medical care or recommend treatments," the statement continued. But then the agency went on to defend the idea of transgenderism.

"This research provides important new information regarding the outcomes of transgender and nonbinary youth receiving gender-affirming hormones. There has been a lack of awareness in the past about the unique health needs and research opportunities for transgender and gender-diverse populations, and a lack of data in this area has also hindered understanding of this population. Research in this area is important for expanding the evidence currently guiding the clinical care of transgender and nonbinary youth and thus, is of considerable public health significance," the NIH statement concluded. 

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