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Tallahassee, Fla. — Today, the Florida Department of Health released guidance regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria for children and adolescents. This guidance uses the most up-to-date scientific data available, and it prioritizes the overall health and well-being of Florida's children and adolescents. The Department's guidance is available here.

"The federal government's medical establishment releasing guidance failing at the most basic level of academic rigor shows that this was never about health care," said State Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. "It was about injecting political ideology into the health of our children. Children experiencing gender dysphoria should be supported by family and seek counseling, not pushed into an irreversible decision before they reach 18." 

Countries such as Sweden, Finland, France, and the United Kingdom are currently reviewing, reevaluating, stopping, or advising caution on the treatment of gender dysphoria in children and adolescents.

The Department crafted this guidance using published and peer-reviewed data that calls into question the motives of the federal HHS. Guidance of this magnitude requires a full, diligent understanding of the scientific evidence.

The current evidence does not support the use of puberty blockers, hormone treatments, or surgical procedures for children and adolescents, considering:

• 80% of those seeking clinical care will lose their desire to identify with the non-birth sex,
• the importance of puberty to brain development, with the pre-frontal cortex (which is responsible for executive functions, such as decision making) continuing to develop until approximately 25 years of age,
• and the potentially irreversible consequences such as cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, infertility, increased cancer risk, and thrombosis.

Alongside the guidance released today, the Department released a fact check that details the claims made by HHS, available here.

About the Florida Department of Health

The department, nationally accredited by the Public Health Accreditation Board, works to protect, promote and improve the health of all people in Florida through integrated state, county and community efforts.

Follow us on Twitter at @HealthyFla and on Facebook. For more information about the Florida Department of Health please visit www.FloridaHealth.gov.

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