Legal/Law/Criminal Justice and Reform

Top Medical Orgs Want Gov To Keep Kids From Flavored Vapes, But Not Irreversible Transgender Procedures

Flickr/Mick Sweetman, CHLY 101.7FM, Local Journalism Initiative

Top medical organizations want the government to keep vape products out of kids’ hands, but give them the greenlight to undergo irreversible transgender procedures.

The organizations, which include the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the American Medical Association (AMA), are siding with the Biden-Harris administration in two major Supreme Court cases this term: one considering the FDA’s refusal to approve flavored vape products and another Tennessee’s ban on child sex change procedures for minors.

In an amicus brief for FDA v. Wages and White Lion Investments, the organizations argue the government must protect youth “from the health harms of flavored e-cigarette products.” The Supreme Court took the case to review the Fifth Circuit’s finding that the FDA acted “arbitrarily and capriciously” in denying applications to market flavored vape products.

In United States v. Skrmetti, the same three medical groups urged the Supreme Court to strike down Tennessee’s ban on transgender procedures for minors, including puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones, which the organizations claim are “safe and effective.” The ban prevents minors from receiving “critical, medically necessary, evidence-based care for gender dysphoria,” the groups claim.

🧵 U.S. hospitals charged nearly $120 million over four years for sex-change procedures performed on around 14,000 children, according to new data compiled by medical watchdog @donoharm. pic.twitter.com/rvA8pq7x77

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) October 8, 2024

Federal law prohibits selling tobacco products to anyone under 21. Meanwhile, the Biden-Harris DOJ has opposed states’ efforts to place age limits on puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex change surgeries as treatments for gender dysphoria, which can have detrimental effects.

Puberty blockers can lead to side effects like fertility problems and diminished bone density.

Additionally, the frequently cited recommendations created by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) came under fire after unsealed court documents revealed the organization avoided evidence reviews and allowed political goals to influence their Standards of Care 8 (SOC-8) guidelines, succumbing to pressure from the Biden administration to remove minimum age recommendations.

In footage obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, WPATH doctors admitted knowing little about the impact and effects of the drugs.

Nearly 14,000 children underwent sex-change procedures between 2019 and 2023, according to data compiled by medical watchdog Do No Harm.

Tennessee attorney general Jonathan Skrmetti criticized the DOJ’s claims about the evidence supporting the transgender medical procedures and reliance on WPATH guidelines in a brief filed last week.

“The government’s one-sided telling of the evidence misreports the medical landscape,” Tennessee’s brief states. “And its over- and under-inclusivity arguments both ignore medical reality and fail to rebut SB1’s substantial relation to Tennessee’s compelling interests.”

AAFP pointed the DCNF to its policy statements on flavored e-cigarettes and “gender affirming care.”

The AAP and AMA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.