- As CEO of the Trevor Project, Amit Paley promoted biomedical interventions for transgender children.
- Paley previously worked for the consulting firm McKinsey & Co., where he advised OxyContin producer Purdue Pharma when the opioid crisis was well underway.
- Paley helped Purdue Pharma develop a strategy to improve opioid sales when the company was under scrutiny for its promotion of OxyContin before the company dissolved in a massive settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, according to a HuffPost survey.
Amit Paley, CEO of an LGBT organization that promotes medical gender reassignment for young people, advised OxyContin producer Purdue Pharma on how to increase sales during the opioid crisis while working at a company advice, according to HuffPost.
Paley is currently CEO of The Project Trevor, an LGBT-focused suicide prevention organization that promotes medical gender reassignment for youth identified as transgender. Paley, who is listing as one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Leaders, volunteered at The Trevor Lifeline for six years before leaving consulting firm McKinsey & Co. to become CEO of The Trevor Project in 2017, according to HuffPost, which reviewed thousands of documents, including internal emails, released as part of McKinsey’s $573 million settlement over its role in the opioid crisis.
Paley was a growing associate partner at McKinsey when he worked with Purdue executives on a 10-year plan to help the company increase sales of opioids and other products in 2016; at least 33,000 people had died the previous year from opioid-related overdoses, according to HuffPost. Purdue at this time faced much criticism for its aggressive promotion of the drug OxyContin; nearly four million people had abused prescription oxycodone in the previous year, according to a 2016 federal survey. (RELATED: Former transgender cop arrested after allegedly befriending and sexually abusing children)
Gender-affirming care can save lives.
—Amit Paley (@amitpaley) April 20, 2022
As CEO of The Trevor Project, Paley has has been a vocal supporter of biomedical interventions for transgender youth, which advocates euphemistically call “gender-affirming care.” This includes “social transitioning” to the opposite sex with new names and pronouns, as well as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and sex reassignment surgeries.
“@FLDeptofHealthThe non-binding advice of opposing gender-affirming care is not only misinformed, it also goes against the recommendation of all major medical + mental health associations,” Paley wrote April 20. “Gender-affirming care can save lives.”
“The research is clear: gender-affirming care produces positive mental health outcomes and decreases suicidal tendency,” he said. wrote in February 2020.
Many medical experts have disputed the safety of gender-affirming drugs, citing the potential harms of the treatments themselves and of accelerating children’s gender transitions without directly addressing mental health issues.
The FDA warned that puberty blockers could be linked to brain swelling, vision loss and other serious risks on July 1.
England’s National Health Service plans to close the country’s only transgender children’s clinic after an investigation found doctors were rushing children into biomedical interventions without first considering their mental health, neurodivergence and their behavior problems.
“There is not a single lolong-term study to demonstrate the safety or effectiveness of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries for young transgender believers,” the American College of Pediatricians said. “This means that the transition of young people is experimental and therefore parents cannot give informed consent, and minors cannot give consent to these interventions. Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have in adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide.
Edited by Paley, The Trevor Project published a study in December 2021 that claims to find a positive relationship between access to “gender-affirming hormone therapy” in adolescence and reduced risk of depression and suicide. In fact, the transgender youth in the study were only 8-14% less likely to report recent depression or to seriously consider or attempt suicide in the past year compared to those who wanted but didn’t. weren’t given hormones, according to the study, and they were still on the verge of 3,000% more likely of having attempted suicide in the past year compared to the general population.
“It is clear that gender-affirming care has the potential to reduce rates of depression and suicide attempts, while banning such life-saving care and exposing young people to harmful political rhetoric can do real damage. ” our CEO @amitpaley 👏🏾👏🏽👏🏿https://t.co/foVDyOvSrj
— The Trevor Project (@TrevorProject) December 15, 2021
The study had several methodological issues, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found, and it wasn’t a random trial, but rather found respondents through targeted social media ads who completed an online quiz, and volunteers received $50 prizes for participating.
Paley was a key member of a 2016 effort to create a big data strategy for Purdue, and the team’s pitch (which was ultimately rejected) included suggestions that the company would identify “undiagnosed patients that didn’t take “high-value products from Purdue,” according to HuffPost. The Project Trevor told HuffPost that it would be inaccurate to call Paley a leader on this project.
Paley worked with Purdue almost daily during the 10-year plan project, during which he served as a liaison between the pharmaceutical company and McKinsey, according to the HuffPost. Paley acknowledged that Purdue was trying to “improve opioid impressions” in an email to a colleague.
Purdue was dissolved in 2021 as part of a $4.5 billion settlement over the company’s role in the opioid crisis.
The Trevor Project did not respond to DCNF’s request for comment, but a rep told HuffPost that Paley only billed Purdue for 168 hours and worked on just one of dozens of projects McKinsey has managed. for Purdue.
“Amit served Purdue for a relatively brief period while in a junior position,” a McKinsey spokesperson told HuffPost. “It would be incorrect to present its customer service to Purdue as central or primary.”
McKinsey, Purdue and Paley did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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