4 Comments

Wow, this is a hard read. Thank you for your breakdown of this junk science. I think rational parents innately know that amputating or mutilating their growing child’s healthy nutrition-absorbing organ is a bad thing and won’t agree to it.

However, the part that terrifies and deeply saddens me is that kids who don’t have rational caregivers (kids in foster care, kids forced into the criminal justice system, kids whose parents have untreated ED’s, kids with abusive parents, etc) won’t be able to give their informed consent to refuse this barbaric torture.

And worryingly, with all the legal attacks on bodily autonomy (the war on trans people and trans kids in particular, and the overturning of Roe), how much longer will rational parents be able to refuse the medical mutilation of their kids? How long before the state steps in and says you can’t get custody, or food assistance, or Medicaid unless you subject your fat kids to these surgeries?

It’s bad enough that the government is embracing its slow roll into fascism, but pair that with science being warped and twisted to attempt to trick us into thinking organ mutilation and a lifetime of health problems is ideal for adults AND children?

These are tough times.

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It's getting harder and harder to sell weight = health to the public, and increasingly, to physicians. Note that for this pro WLS-research (sic), you have to rely on work from possibly the most patriarchal, capitalistic cultures on the planet.

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Horrifying! Thanks for the detailed breakdown and advocacy against this disgusting “research” and resulting recommendations. I knew the AAP guidelines were concerning, but had no idea the unconscionable articles cited in support. Keep up the great work!

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Unbelievable that the medical community in any way thinks this is a good idea when children's bodies are not even fully developed yet. They are setting them up with a diseased body for the entirety of their lives. It makes me absolutely furious!

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