This article originally appeared on theDaily Caller News Foundationand was republished with permission.
Some online pharmacies seemingly do not require prescriptions or information about patient age for individuals seeking transgender hormones, according to a Do No Harm (DNH) report released Tuesday.
The newreport, first obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, also highlights a spate of resources DNH found which promote online pharmacies and other distribution networks for “homebrewed”transgenderhormones, as well as guides on how to self-administer such hormones. Kurt Miceli, chief medical officer at DNH, told the DCNF in a statement that the report “reveals how online pharmacies may enable minors to obtain cross-sex hormones with alarming ease.”
“From websites listing online vendors across the globe to marketplaces for ‘homebrewed’ hormones, we found a multitude of troubling pathways that appear to bypass basic safeguards and regulatory oversight,” Miceli said. “Gender-confused kids should not be able to purchase potent, experimental medications with just a few simple clicks. These hormones carry significant risks, including effects that can be irreversible.”
“We urge the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] and other federal agencies to investigate any potential unlawful sellers and, where appropriate, for states to do the same when their laws are being violated,” Miceli continued. “Protecting minors from unsafe and unregulated access to powerful cross-sex hormones must remain a priority.”
Transgender Map, awebsitewhich aims to teach people “how to make a gender transition,” lists several online pharmacies based in multiple continents from which minors can procure cross-sex hormones, adding that “getting hormones without a prescription is against the law,” according to DNH’s report. Transgender Map also notes that online pharmacies “may move or go out of business without warning” and that “things can change quickly,” per DNH.
Transgender Mapclaimson a guide titled “how to get hormones as a transgender minor” that “for young people who are sure they want to make a gender change, getting on hormone blockers and maybe hormones can help a lot, adding “you need to be sure, though.” The website also claims that “you need to know the other risks and side effects that can happen before starting.”
“If you wish to take that risk, go here,” Transgender Map tells users, before linking to aguideabout how to order hormones online. Transgender Map wascreatedby Andrea James, a transgender filmmaker and consumer activist who launched the website during their own gender transition.
James did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Moreover, another website, calledDIYHRT.market, lists several pharmacies and so-called “homebrewers” where one may be able to bypass any age restrictions or prescription requirement in order to acquire transgender hormones likeestradiol, a female sex hormone which can be used in male-to-female transitions, according to the report. The website also claims that “hormone replacement therapy (HRT)” for transgender people is “unquestionably beneficial” and that “there is clear statistical evidence that there are overwhelmingly positive outcomes on mental health and an overall improvement in quality of life.”
Source: The Vigilant Fox
