Chemical castration: what is it and how would it be applied to those accused of rape and sexual abuse in Peru

The urologist Alberto Tejada explained to Infobae how this procedure would take place in the country, but warned that the real problem of the sexual abuser “is not his genital, but his head”.

On Wednesday, 20 April, the Council of Ministers will discuss the proposal on compulsory chemical castration for men accused of violating the sexual freedom of girls, children, adolescents and women. This was announced by the President of the Republic, Pedro Castillo, after the case of the 'Chiclayo Monster' and his heinous crime against a girl of three years.

On this subject, the specialist in urology and andrology, Alberto Tejada, spoke with Infobae Peru and explained the process of applying this treatment, how much it would cost the Government to apply it and whether Peru is prepared to have this measure as an option in the face of the high rate of child sexual violence.

“The aim of chemical castration is to inhibit the production of the effects of testosterone produced by the testicle so that this hormone, which has to do with impulse, muscle strength and energy, is totally inhibited, he said.

Chemical castration, explained Tejada, has different consequences for men such as changing mood, greater tendency to depression, weight gain, fluid retention, loss of muscle mass and increased body fat

“This topic is being taken very lightly, since everyone believes that mark class="hl_yellow"ibcastration is done with the application of an injection and it is already castrated forever, but it is not so. These (doses) must be on a regular basis: daily in the case of the pill (estrogens) and bi-monthly in the case of injections (medroxyprogesterone). (...) The treatment has an effect after 10 - 15 days, that's when they will be most noticeable and is reversible if the drug is stopped, again the hormone functions reappear,” he said.

Regarding the expenditure that the Government would implement to carry out this treatment, Dr. Tejada said that it is approximately 50 dollars per month per person to whom it is applied, either the injection or the pills. This would amount to approximately $800,000 per month for the 16,000 prisoners sentenced for rape and other types of attacks,

WOULD IT BE THE BEST SOLUTION?

Tejada commented that chemical castration is not practical, since it would only focus on punishment and not on the solution to prevent further cases of rape against women and minors.

“I see it very impractical in a prison system, a difficult practice. Apart from that we are all concentrating on punishment, but everyone is forgetting the cause, why these people are pedophiles or why they have a stigma of sexual version, the problem is not in their genitals, they have it in their head,i/i so the issue of mental health and prevention is what should be on the agenda,” he added.

On the other hand, the application of this method cannot be without the consent of the subject, so the alleged violator can decide whether or not to accept the pill or give himself the injection.

“I doubt that people will respect the pharmacovigilance of a product with these characteristics, because placing it makes it feel less dynamic, less stacked and rather we are giving an alternative to commit a chain of corruption that we see within the State, he said.

“Laws and regulations are made and in their difficult application an economic resource is generated that is not used for it, but is used for anything else, so doing an injection or daily monitoring of pills in a prisoner is not an easy practice to perform,” he said.

It should be noted that in the world, there are at least ten countries in which this method has been accepted. However, the specialist argues that he has been incorporated without success to curb cases of sexual violence. “If it were so effective, more than 200 countries that have not adopted this (measure) would have done so by now,” he said.

“It is questionable,” according to Tejada, that chemical castration should be applied to a person who is detained for life. “In any case, he is already being limited to harming a child, because he is in prison for his whole life,” he said.

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