NIH-funded study offered parents cash to study effects of puberty blockers on their kids

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is funding a study that pays parents up to $400 to observe the long-term effects of puberty blockers on children, according to documents obtained by the Daily Wire and Parents Defending Education (PDE).

The NIH has awarded Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) millions in grants for its study “The Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth,” according to the NIH. The study is observing the “longer-term physiological and psychological impact” of cross-hormone treatment of minors with gender dysphoria, and as a result, parents are paid for a series of visits if their child participates, according to documents obtained by the Daily Wire and PDE.

“In consideration of your time participating in this research, the study team would like to offer you payment,” one document reads. “The payments for participation are as follows: $50 for each visit; if you participate in all visits, the total amount is $400 … you or a family member or friend you designate will receive reimbursement for parking and/or transportation, or be provided transportation as needed.”

The documents also included a waiver that parents would sign in order for their child to begin puberty blocker treatments at CHLA. The waiver warned parents that if their child was put on the treatments at the beginning of puberty then they may become infertile as a result.

“If your child starts puberty blockers in the earliest stages of puberty, and then goes on to gender-affirming hormones, they will not develop sperm or eggs,” the waiver reads. “This means that they will not be able to have biological children … This is an important aspect of blocking puberty and progressing to hormones that you should understand prior to moving forward with puberty suppression.”

The study has been going on since 2015 and is headed by Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, CHLA’s medical director for The Center for Transyouth Health and Development, according to the grant. The study previously received $7,748,467 from 2015 to 2022 before its extension by the NIH this year.

The NIH has spent $17,576,200 since 2008 on research projects studying puberty blockers and cross-hormone therapy for transgender patients as of September 2022, the Daily Caller News Foundation previously reported.

The NIH, CHLA and Kennedy did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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