A group of GOP senators reportedly demanded that the National Institutes of Health provide information related to a controversial taxpayer-funded study on transgender children.
Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, James Lankford, R-Okla., Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, sent a letter to NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli to request annual progress reports on a project in which scientists administered puberty blockers to children to study the physical and psychosocial impact of the drugs, the Washington Examiner reported Friday.
The study was funded through a 2015 NIH grant worth $5.7 million. Since then, the project's cost has grown to $9.7 million.
Dr. Johanna Olson-Kennedy, one of the researchers working on the project, recently admitted to withholding the results of study because she believed it would be politically weaponized.
However, recipients of NIH grants are required to submit progress reports to the agency regarding the state of their research.
"While we recognize that this particular study is observational, we remain concerned that minors lack the ability to fully understand the lifelong outcomes of the interventions studied in this project and provide their consent," the senators wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by the Examiner.
"Further, taxpayers have the right to know the outcomes of the research they fund, particularly when the intervention studied has life-altering impacts."
The senators cited a similar instance in the United Kingdom where researchers delayed the publication of a study that failed to show puberty blockers improving the mental health of transgender children.
After the UK results were made public, and following an independent review, Britain's National Health Service decided to stop providing children with puberty blockers.
News of the senators' letter came two days after the Supreme Court heard oral arguments concerning a Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors. CNN reported that several conservative justices signaled deep reservations on the idea of courts second-guessing lawmakers who have approved bans on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors in about half of the nation's states.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., reportedly wrote Bertagnolli to demand an investigation into whether the agency-funded study on the effects of puberty blockers is withholding its findings due to politics.
On Nov. 4, one day before this year's election, House Republicans began an investigation into Olson-Kennedy's attempts to suppress the results from the study.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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