Two weeks ago, Matthew Memoli, who was acting NIH director at the time, sent an e-mail to the directors of several NIH institutes. It said that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which is the NIH’s parent agency, “has been directed to fund research on a few specific areas” related to what it calls “chemical and surgical mutilation” of children and adults — a reference to gender-affirming care and surgery. “This is very important to the President and the Secretary” of the HHS, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the e-mail added.
Whatever they find, they’re going to try and spin it to suit their agenda. They’re not interested in actual facts.
Statistics are massively manipulable. I did an entire unit on assessing the quality of research and stats. If someone (ie the general public) doesn’t know what to look for you can just about say whatever you want.