quinta-feira, 19 de dezembro de 2024
Believe data, not activists: Transgenderism among kids is mostly a fad?
New York Post
Opinion
By Karol Markowicz
Published April 4, 2024, 8:15 p.m. ET
Is transgenderism among kids largely a fad?
It certainly looks that way.
Researchers at the Netherlands’ University of Groningen recently released the results of a landmark 15-year study of 2,700 children starting at age 11.
They tracked the gender non-contentedness of these children over the years and found: “In early adolescence, 11% of participants reported gender non-contentedness. The prevalence decreased with age and was 4% at the last follow-up (around age 26).”
The researchers concluded, “Gender non-contentedness, while being relatively common during early adolescence, in general decreases with age and appears to be associated with a poorer self-concept and mental health throughout development.”
In other words, most of the children in the study who were feeling gender dysphoric in their awkward teenage years had shaken that off and adjusted by early adulthood, and their dysphoria was associated with bad self-esteem and mental-health problems.
This is fully at odds with the policy pushing its way through American schools and medical institutions: Kids who declare themselves transgender, no matter the age, need to be “affirmed,” an idea that sometimes leads to children taking hormone blockers or getting surgery to attempt gender transition.
These interventions can have lifelong consequences, but some doctors aren’t even sure if the child should be informed before they take action.
Leaked documents last month from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health found some doctors don’t think disclosing potential risks is necessary.
As The Post reported, practitioners believe telling a 14-year-old about possible fertility consequences is like talking to a “blank wall.”
A child psychologist said it’s “out of their developmental range to understand the extent to which some of these medical interventions are impacting them.”
If children can’t understand the medical consequences of an entirely elective procedure that isn’t necessary to benefit their health or save their life, perhaps it’s best not to do it?
This shouldn’t be controversial.
Yet we’ve gotten to a place where anyone who doesn’t jump at the chance to “affirm” a child in his or her quest to change genders is a transphobe or worse.
When Gov. Ron DeSantis banned such medical interventions for Florida kids, headlines like Rolling Stone’s “Ron DeSantis Just Took Two Big Steps to Make Trans Lives Illegal” were common.
Reuters noted the law “escalates a Republican political strategy to pursue bills restricting transgender rights.”
Many news stories called it a ban on “transgender treatment” because it banned puberty blockers and hormone therapy for children.
Laws like this are necessary to stem the hysteria that has developed around the topic and to protect mostly girls.
The University of Groningen study found that girls were being hardest hit by this gender dysphoria.
The report notes, “Individuals with an increasing gender non-contentedness more often were female and both an increasing and decreasing trajectory were associated with a lower global self-worth, more behavioral and emotional problems, and a non-heterosexual sexual orientation.”
Abigail Shrier was among the first to identify the social contagion of transgenderism, specifically among teenage girls, in her 2020 book “Irreversible Damage.”
Her latest book, “Bad Therapy,” looks at therapy culture that indulges teenagers in any bad idea they may have.
Perhaps the answer is to not simply accept the words of children.
The “gentle parenting” being pushed right now that makes good parents consider putting their kids on drugs to help them achieve an unattainable sex change needs to run up against tough love and fast.
domingo, 15 de dezembro de 2024
Trump: Make Polio Great Again
Macau proposes measure requiring election candidates to pledge loyalty to Basic Law
Macau’s government has proposed amending the law so that candidates of the Legislative Assembly will be required to declare that they uphold the Basic Law and pledge allegiance to the Special Administrative Region.
Macanese lawmaker Chan Chak-mo revealed Thursday that the government’s proposed amendments to the legislative election law include the new declaration requirement. The proposal is similar to the controversial confirmation form introduced by the Hong Kong government during the Legislative Council election in September. Six candidates were barred from running after electoral officers held that they did not uphold the Basic Law.
But different from Hong Kong’s confirmation form, the Macanese version added that those who are “proven in fact” to have failed to uphold Macau’s mini-constitution or swear allegiance to the territory will be barred from standing as candidates.
Potential candidates will also need to declare that they do not belong to any foreign governments or parliaments if the bill is passed. The election committee of the Legislative Assembly will assess whether candidates have breached their declarations.
‘Close loopholes’
Chan said the move would close the loopholes in election laws, broadcaster TDM reported. He added that there was no objection from lawmakers on the committee tasked with reviewing the proposal.
According to online news outlet Macau Concealer, Chan said that statements demanding Macau’s independence and the “overthrowing of whatever” would be sufficient proof that a candidate does not uphold the Basic Law or pledge allegiance to the Macau SAR.
Macanese lawmaker Antonio Ng Kuok-cheong said: “As expected, our government is keen to show its loyalty to Beijing by following the Chinese government’s ruling on Hong Kong’s Basic Law and introducing disqualification rules to our own laws.”
Politician Jason Chao of the pro-democracy New Macau Association criticised the government for censoring people’s thoughts and giving too much power to the electoral affairs commission. He said on an online radio show that the lack of objective criteria of the new requirements is problematic.
“If Chief Executive Chui Sai-on insisted on taking his oath in Mandarin even though he is so bad at the language… I don’t think he’d have ‘solemnly’ taken his pledge of allegiance to Macau,” said Chao.
Chao’s party colleague Chiang Meng-hin said: “This is like Iranian elections in which candidates have all been vetted before they can run for elections.”
Polio is a deadly disease with a vaccine that a Trump ally adviser wants to ban
There’s a reason you rarely hear about people catching polio—let alone dying from the highly infectious disease—particularly in the U.S. And if you’re under the age of 70, you’ve likely never had to live in fear of acquiring it yourself. The polio vaccine has all but obliterated the illness that once killed thousands and paralyzed 15,000 people nationwide every year.
The above statistic hails from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the agency President-elect Donald Trump has chosen outspoken vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run. When the once and future commander-in-chief announced his HHS pick on X on Nov. 14, he wrote, “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration,” and that Kennedy would help “end the Chronic Disease epidemic.” Trump also said public health has suffered from the “deception, misinformation, and disinformation” of pharmaceutical companies.
Vaccine disinformation is rampant anew as it’s come to light that an advisor of Kennedy’s petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to rescind its approval of the polio vaccine. The New York Times reported Dec. 13 that attorney Aaron Siri has been helping Kennedy vet candidates for top HHS jobs, a process that has included uncovering their vaccine views. Siri took to X later that afternoon to call the Times article a “hit piece” that “stokes fear,” and stressed that “assuring the safety of these injections is critical.”
The website of Siri & Glimstad LLP touts Siri as a managing partner who has fielded high-profile vaccine injury and policy cases, including “extensive litigation against federal agencies for transparency.” The law firm claims its clients have been awarded more than $5.2 billion in vaccine injury compensation.
In 2022, Siri filed the FDA petition on behalf of the nonprofit Informed Consent Action Network, alleging clinical trials of the polio vaccine weren’t rigorous enough to confirm its safety. The petition says the FDA “could not have fulfilled its statutory duty to assure the safety of [the vaccine] prior to licensing it for injection into infants, toddlers, and children.” Fortune 500 Europe company Sanofi manufactures the polio vaccine cited in the petition; head of vaccines Ayman Chit told the Times that the vaccine has undergone hundreds of studies, including safety follow-ups as long as six months.
Trump told TIME last month he planned to “have a big discussion” about childhood vaccination programs with Kennedy, who “does not disagree with vaccinations, all vaccinations.”
Is the polio vaccine safe?
While an oral polio vaccine (OPV) is administered in some countries, inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) has been the only available form of immunization in the U.S. since 2000. It’s not only safe but also effective. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), two doses of IPV provide at least 90% protection, while three doses offer at least 99% protection.
The risks and possible side effects of the polio vaccine are comparable to those of other vaccines, the CDC says, such as pain, soreness, swelling, and/or redness at the injection site. Fainting and dizziness are also possible. More serious reactions, including allergic reactions, are rare.
Three billion children have been vaccinated against polio since 1988, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, meaning 20 million people who would’ve otherwise been paralyzed by polio are walking today.
The vaccine has helped eradicate two of the three wild poliovirus strains, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Types 2 and 3 were eradicated in 1999 and 2020, respectively. Type 1 remained endemic in only Pakistan and Afghanistan as of 2022.
What is polio?
Poliomyelitis, or polio, is a distinctly contagious illness caused by a virus called poliovirus. The virus targets the nervous system, which is why it sometimes triggers spinal and respiratory paralysis—and death.
Polio primarily infects children under 5 and has done so around the globe for millennia. According to WHO, children with “withered limbs,” a hallmark of the ailment, are shown using canes in ancient Egyptian images. British physician Michael Underwood documented the first known clinical description of polio in 1789, and German doctor Jakob Heine formally recognized the condition in 1840.
Polio was “the most feared disease in the world” throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, WHO says. It killed or paralyzed more than half a million people every year by the mid-20th century, and left many survivors with lifelong complications from wheelchairs to artificial respirators.
The first polio vaccine, developed by U.S. physician Jonas Salk, became available in 1955.
How does polio spread?
Polio typically spreads from person to person via fecal-oral transmission, according to the CDC, but it can also spread through a sick person’s respiratory droplets. You might catch it from touching a contaminated object and putting your fingers in your mouth, or simply being in close contact with someone who has polio. People carrying the virus can infect others for up to two weeks after symptoms appear, and asymptomatic people can still make others sick.
Though less common, polio can also circulate when people consume contaminated food or drink. Proper hand washing with soap and water is more important than ever when it comes to polio prevention, as the CDC notes alcohol-based hand sanitizers don’t kill poliovirus.
Wild poliovirus has been eradicated in the U.S., but an infected person traveling from abroad can spur an outbreak. Anyone not fully vaccinated against polio is susceptible to infection. In 2022, an unvaccinated man in New York contracted paralytic polio from community transmission; the CDC confirmed genetic sequencing had tied New York wastewater samples to those in London and Jerusalem.
What are the symptoms of polio?
While most people with polio are asymptomatic, according to the CDC, about 25% of patients will exhibit these flu-like symptoms, which last two to five days:
Fever
Headache
Nausea
Sore throat
Stomach pain
Tiredness
The flu-like symptoms may not seem too bad, but polio brings devastating complications for some. Up to 5% of polio patients develop meningitis, the inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord, the CDC estimates. Up to 0.5% develop paralysis of or weakness in the arms and/or legs—and up to 10% of those paralyzed die.
Even people with mild infections can experience post-polio syndrome (PPS) decades later. Symptoms of this non-contagious disease include joint pain, muscle weakness, and mental and physical fatigue. Up to 40% of polio survivors get PPS, which begins 15 to 40 years after infection.
Seek emergency medical care if you suspect you or a loved one has developed polio symptoms.
How is polio treated?
No cure for polio exists, which is why medical and public health officials worldwide urge vaccination to prevent the illness. Polio survivors with muscle weakness may benefit from physical or occupational therapy.
If you grew up in the U.S., chances are you received your four IPV polio vaccine doses at these CDC-recommended ages:
2 months
4 months
6–18 months
4–6 years
If you’re unsure of your polio vaccination status, it’s not too late. The CDC recommends adults get three IPV doses, with the second one to two months after the first, and the third six to 12 months after the second.
FortuneWll
BYLindsey Leake
December 13, 2024 at 9:30 PM GMT
Conselheiro de Kennedy Jr. quer fim da vacinação contra a poliomielite e hepatite B
Um dos principais conselheiros jurídicos de Robert Kennedy Jr., o escolhido do presidente eleito Donald Trump para secretário da Saúde, tem tentado convencer os reguladores federais dos medicamentos nos Estados Unidos a revogar a aprovação das vacinas contra a poliomielite e a hepatite B, assim como a bloquear a distribuição de 13 outras vacinas essenciais.
Aaron Siri é o nome do advogado que tem ajudado Kennedy Jr. a selecionar os futuros administradores da saúde, que deverão entrar em funções quando Donald Trump tomar posse, no início do próximo ano.
Segundo uma investigação do New York Times publicada esta sexta-feira, Siri está envolvido nos esforços de longa data para forçar a Food and Drug Administration (FDA), agência federal dos EUA que gere a segurança dos medicamentos, a revogar a aprovação desta entidade a uma série de vacinas.
Entre as vacinas em questão, que salvam a vida e asseguram a saúde de milhões de norte-americanos, estão a da poliomielite e a da hepatite B.
De acordo com o NYT, Aaron Siri tem estado do lado de Kennedy Jr. enquanto este realiza entrevistas aos candidatos para cargos na área da saúde e os dois homens têm perguntado aos entrevistados qual a posição destes em relação às vacinas.
O próprio Kennedy já assumiu ser cético quanto à eficácia das inoculações, mas garantiu não ter planos para revogar a autorização de vacinas caso seja confirmado pelo Senado dos EUA para o cargo de secretário da Saúde.
A porta-voz de Kennedy Jr., Katie Miller, confirmou entretanto que Siri tem estado a aconselhá-lo, mas assegurou que este “tem sempre dito que quer transparência quanto às vacinas e dar às pessoas a possibilidade de escolher”.
No entanto, a proximidade entre o sobrinho do ex-presidente John F. Kennedy e Aaron Siri está a levantar preocupações acerca das futuras decisões do primeiro, tendo em conta o seu envolvimento no movimento anti-vacinação.
Kennedy insiste em associar vacinas a autismo
Siri trabalha em estreita colaboração com a Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), uma organização sem fins lucrativos defensora da “liberdade médica” que há muito trava uma guerra contra as vacinas.
Segundo o New York Times, Siri apresentou em 2022 uma petição na qual pedia à FDA que revogasse a aprovação da vacina contra a poliomielite em nome da ICAN.
Esta doença infeciosa é provocada pelo poliovírus, contraído através da ingestão de substâncias contaminadas. Em tempos era das doenças mais temidas pelos americanos mas, com a administração da vacina, acabou por ser erradicada do país.
Aaron Siri esteve envolvido em ações judiciais que pediam a retirada ou a suspensão das vacinas contra a poliomielite e a hepatite B, tendo também apresentado uma petição à FDA para “suspender a distribuição” de 13 outras vacinas, de acordo com o NYT.
Esta semana, Donald Trump afirmou que Kennedy Jr. poderia investigar as vacinas devido a uma alegada associação à doença de autismo, o que já foi repetidamente desmentido por especialistas.
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