Sharing a public petition on the government to cancel the puberty blockers trial on X, Tesla founder Elon Musk said that they are a crime and should be banned.
"Puberty blockers are a crime against children. They should be banned," Musk wrote on X.
The public petition to cancel the clinical trial into puberty blockers was started on X by therapist James Esses. "Let’s demonstrate our strength of feeling by getting this petition to 100,000 signatures and forcing a debate," he wrote.
Puberty blockers are a crime against children. They should be banned. https://t.co/HwPCVdkxI9
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2026
Several countries are pushing for a pause on trials after the UK imposed a ban on puberty blockers. The New Zealand government also announced a ban on prescribing puberty blockers to people not already receiving them, who are seeking gender affirming healthcare.
What are puberty blockers?
Puberty blockers are those drugs that can be used to delay the changes of puberty in transgender and gender-diverse youth who have started puberty. The medicines used for this purpose are known as gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues.
What do puberty blockers do?
The intake of these medicines regularly stops the body from making sex hormones--testosterone and estrogen. The sex hormones affect the primary sexual organs and the secondary sex characteristics. i.e, physical changes in the body that appear during puberty, like breast development and facial hair growth.
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If GnRH analogues are given to males, they slow down the growth of body hair, prevent voice deepening, and limit the growth of the penis, scrotum and testicles. Meanwhile, in the case of females, this treatment stops menstruation and limits breast development.
Are there any benefits of puberty blockers?
For a person with gender identity confusion, this could have benefits. Gender dysphoria is a condition that happens when gender identity differs from a person's sex assigned at birth or from sex-related physical characteristics. Generally, transgender and gender-diverse people undergo this condition, and for them, it might help.
*Improve mental well-being
*Reducing depression and anxiety
*Improve social interactions
*Lower the need for future surgeries
*Self-harm actions would be reduced
Though GnRH analogues don't cause permanent physical changes, they may pause puberty, paving the way for the person to explore gender identity.
Puberty blockers are not recommended for children who have not started puberty. Puberty, in general, begins around 10 or 11 years of age. The effect of the medicine depends on when you start the course.
What are the side effects?
*Weight gain
*Hot flashes
*Headaches
*Mood changes
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*Fertility issues
*Growth spurts
*Bone density
