What’s Wrong with the New NIH Study on Transgender Kids?

Jan 18, 2018 by

by  Jane Robbins and Erin Tuttle, Public Discourse:

 

A new study being launched by the NIH  (National Institutes of Health) intended to produce evidence supporting a particular conclusion: that transgender affirmation therapy is safe and effective for gender-dysphoric youngsters. And once the federal government speaks, states and other institutions will fall in line.

An annoyingly overused phrase in modern bureaucratic lingo is “evidence-based,” which means that public policies should be backed by research and evidence showing their efficacy. No argument there—except that shoddy, agenda-driven “research” can be produced to justify a lot of things that turn out to be very bad ideas.

It’s common practice for federal bureaucrats to design and then publicize biased studies to promote their preferred policy. We outlined this practice in our new book, Deconstructing the Administrative State: The Fight for Liberty. The process is simple: (1) issue requests for research proposals slanted in favor of a particular outcome, (2) fund studies that reach the expected conclusions, and (3) cite that research in subsequent studies to claim that a “growing body of evidence” favors the preferred policy.

These techniques are now being deployed in a new area: treatment for gender dysphoria. Dr. Quentin Van Meter, an Atlanta pediatric endocrinologist with extensive experience in the science of gender dysphoria who trained at Johns Hopkins Hospital, states flatly that there is “zero point zero zero” evidence that the concepts of gender fluidity and gender identity have any scientific basis. But it takes a courageous physician to risk opprobrium and accusations of insufficient compassion by rejecting the new dogma.

Read here

 

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