Conspiracy!

Have you noticed that Republicans love conspiracy theories; Chemtrails, pizzagate, the Deep State… well ad another to the wacky theories.

Senate Republicans launch inquiry into unpublished NIH study
Senate Republicans are launching an inquiry in the National Institutes of Health a little over a month after a report revealed a grant recipient withheld data on a study examining the effects of puberty blockers.  
The Hill
By Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech
December 6, 2024

The New York Times broke the news in October that a doctor and advocate of adolescent gender treatments chose not to publish the results of the long-awaited study out of fear the findings would be “weaponized” by opponents of transitional care for minors.

Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy began the study in 2015 as part of a broader effort to study the long-term health outcomes of medical treatment for transgender kids and teens.

Olson-Kennedy and colleagues were asked by the NIH to study the effects of puberty blockers — which delay or prevent physical changes like developing breasts or deepening one’s voice — on children with gender dysphoria.

Wait! Wait! It couldn’t have possibly because that they didn’t find anything new in the study? No, it can’t be that!

The findings of that work have yet to be published. Olson-Kennedy told The New York Times that the drugs did not improve the mental health of the children who took part in the study, possibly because they were already doing well by the time the study began.

No, no it can’t be for that reason! It must be something sinister!

Six Republican senators announced the inquiry in a letter sent Thursday to Director of the NIH Monica Bertagnolli. The letter was signed by Sens Bill Cassidy (La.), Tommy Tuberville (Ala.), Ted Cruz (Texas), James Lankford (Okla.), Markwayne Mullin (Okla.) and Mike Lee (Utah).

Almost all of the lawmakers have either introduced or co-sponsored legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors.

In the letter, lawmakers accused Olson-Kennedy of withholding the study’s findings because “they did not support her political agenda.”

Of course the legislators don’t have an agenda of their own. And what ever happened to “state rights” they were touting? All of sudden now they are in power now they want a national ban?

The Catholic News agency already made up their mind about the study even though nobody read it!

“In light of the NIH grantee’s unwillingness to release the research project’s findings, we ask that you provide documents and information to assist the committee’s oversight of this matter,” Rep. Lisa McClain, the chair of the Oversight and Accountability’s Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, wrote in a letter to NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli.

[…]

“We are alarmed that the project’s principal investigator, Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, is withholding publication of the project’s research findings, which cast doubt on the efficacy of the ‘gender affirming’ model, because she believes the findings could be ‘weaponized’ by critics of transgender medical interventions for children,” McClain wrote in the letter.

Wow! “Cast doubt” since we don’t know what the report contains that is a mighty jump!

“Deliberately mischaracterizing and withholding the results of the … study has serious implications for the health and safety of children who are subjected to ‘gender affirming’ medical procedures, many of which are irreversible and hold lifelong implications despite lacking adequate scientific support for their efficacy or safety,” the letter adds.

That sure does sound sinister! Based on what?

I bet what the report says is… nothing new, they work, they are reversible, and that they do no long tern harm.