House Republicans began an investigation Monday regarding the attempts of a youth transgender medicine physician to suppress the results from a federally funded study on puberty blockers' mental health effects due to political reasons.
Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, medical director for the Center for Transyouth Health and Development at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, claimed that she had been delaying the publication of the study's results funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) because she feared they would be used by critics of minors' transgender medicine.
Chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Healthcare and Financial Services Rep. Lisa McClain, R-Mich., sent a letter to NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli regarding the status of the study, which was conducted with a $9.7 million NIH grant, according to the Washington Examiner.
"NIH is responsible for overseeing its extramural research projects to ensure supported researchers practice transparency, exemplify scientific integrity, and are proper stewards of taxpayer funds," McClain wrote. McClain then requested Bertagnolli provide all documents pertaining to the study by Nov. 18.
Olson-Kennedy had told the New York Times that early findings in her study showed that puberty blockers did not lead to mental health improvements in adolescents with gender dysphoria, adding that they didn't show major improvements since they were doing well at the start of the study. Olson-Kennedy added that she did "not want [her] work to be weaponized."
McClain's letter also shows that the results Olson-Kennedy shared with the New York Times are drastically different than the study she authored in 2020, which was funded by the NIH. That paper said that the group of 95 children involved in the study had adverse mental health symptoms at the experiment's start.
"Dr. Olson-Kennedy's apparent mischaracterization of the TYC study's results and refusal to publish taxpayer-funded research because they contradict her pre-existing biases and could be cited by critics of 'gender-affirming' medical interventions is an irrefutable example of politicization of scientific research to further an ideological agenda," McClain wrote.
House Energy and Commerce Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., said that her committee would be investigating Olson-Kennedy's study as well since it is a "clear example of the politicization of science at the expense of children."
"Research funded by taxpayer dollars through the NIH should be publicly disclosed regardless of the results, and Americans deserve access to the truth," Rodgers stated.
Jeremy Frankel ✉
Jeremy Frankel is a Newsmax writer reporting on news and politics.
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