Republican attorneys general warned in a letter to the American Academy of Pediatrics last week that the organization may have committed “violations of state consumer protection statutes” as they made baseless claims about the impacts of puberty blockers on children.

The professional association of pediatricians claimed in a guidance published six years ago that puberty blockers are “reversible treatments” that can be “used in adolescents who experience gender dysphoria,” purportedly allowing them to “explore gender identity, access psychosocial supports, develop coping skills, and further define appropriate treatment goals.” The letter from the twenty-two attorneys general contended that the statement was “misleading and deceptive.”

“It is beyond medical debate that puberty blockers are not fully reversible but instead come with serious long-term consequences,” the coalition of Republican attorneys general wrote in the document. “Telling parents and children that puberty blockers are ‘reversible’ at the very least conveys assurance that no permanent harm or change will occur. But that claim cannot be made in the face of the unstudied and ‘novel’ use of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria.”

The officials cited a report from the National Health Service in England which warned that puberty blockers may interfere with neurocognitive development, compromise bone density, and impact metabolic health, as well as cause sterility when followed by cross-sex hormones.

The letter said that the American Academy of Pediatrics has been influenced by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health and other activist organizations, adding that their public assertions may place them in violation of state consumer protection laws which make clear that “false, misleading, or deceptive” claims made to consumers are not permitted.

Idaho Republican Attorney General Raul Labrador commented in a statement that the medical standard of “do no harm” has been “abandoned by professional associations when politically pressured,” observing that such organizations are “sacrificing the health and well-being of children with medically unproven treatments that leave a wake of permanent damage.”

Many critics of transgender procedures indeed note the physical harm they render and the impossibility of changing individual sex. The procedures create other medical issues that tend to decrease life expectancy and result in patients becoming dependent on future treatments.

At least twenty-three states have now passed prohibitions on transgender surgeries and hormones for minors, while other states have increased legal protections for the practices.