![\"UK](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/a9549bfd-686f-4c06-b822-ab465a09df2e.jpg\")
Wes Streeting, the health secretaryDAVID CLIFF\/EPA<\/p>\n
However, an open letter, signed by 130 health professionals, says it is \u201cextraordinary\u201d that the scientist could be removed from a role simply for \u201cknowing that sex is real and important\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It warns that the decision to remove George will have a \u201cchilling effect\u201d on scientists and medical professionals because it implies that to hold senior posts they must be \u201cideologically aligned\u201d with the view that people can change sex.<\/p>\n
The letter says: \u201cThis decision, apparently predicated on Prof George\u2019s acknowledgment of the significance of biological sex, represents a direct assault on evidence-based medicine, the statutory duty of candour and the professional rights of medics in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n
It has been signed by experts including Professor Sir Stephen O\u2019Rahilly, an endocrinologist at the University of Cambridge, and a dozen consultant psychiatrists including Dr Stella Kingett and Dr Az Hakeem.<\/p>\n
The letter was sent to Streeting<\/a> as well as the chief executive of the MHRA, the medical regulator. It calls for the MHRA \u201cto provide a transparent justification for its actions or, failing that, to immediately reinstate Professor George to his full duties\u201d.<\/p>\n The trial had been due to recruit 250 boys and girls as young as ten who wanted to change gender. They would be put on puberty-blocking drugs, which suppress hormones that cause physical changes such as breasts.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, George raised ethical and safety concerns last month. He co-wrote a letter from the MHRA to King\u2019s College London, which is running the trial, arguing for the minimum age to be raised to 14. It also highlighted concerns including the \u201cvery likely\u201d loss of fertility and permanent bone damage to children.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Department of Health subsequently announced that preparations for the trial had been paused.\u00a0<\/p>\n One week later the MHRA said it had \u201crecused Professor Jacob George from further involvement in the Pathways clinical trial as a precaution\u201d after his old social media posts came to light.<\/p>\n The MHRA added: \u201cCivil servants, like anyone else, hold personal views but must also carry out their roles in line with the civil service core values of integrity, honesty, objectivity and impartiality.\u201d<\/p>\n The social media posts that led to the accusations of bias were made before George was appointed to his role at the MHRA in January. In one, he criticised the \u201cwell-meaning idiocy\u201d of NHS<\/a> staff denying what he called \u201cbasic biological fact\u201d. He praised Rowling as a \u201ctreasure of our time\u201d when she welcomed the Supreme Court\u2019s ruling<\/a> that legal sex should be based on biological sex. In another post, when questions arose as to whether the Algerian Olympic boxer Imane Khelif was a woman, he said \u201cthe denial of basic biological fact is concerning\u201d.<\/p>\n The letter calling for George to be reinstated says biological sex \u201cis not a matter of belief, but a fundamental physiological variable\u201d. It adds: \u201cTo ignore the materiality of sex is to provide substandard care. Labelling a senior clinician \u2018biased\u2019 for engaging in discussions about these biological facts seems extraordinary given medical professionals use these facts to help keep our patients alive and give them the best care.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter, co-ordinated by the Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender, says that it is discriminatory and \u201clegally indefensible\u201d to penalise a clinician for believing in the material reality of sex, which is a protected belief under the Equality Act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than a hundred doctors have written to Wes Streeting, the health secretary, demanding he \u201cimmediately reinstate\u201d a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-344169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}