The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a $398,000 grant to Florida International University (FIU) to study cancer screening barriers in Latino transgender men and women who now have a higher risk of the disease as a result of their “transition” treatments.

“While transgender men and women have a higher risk of breast and cervical cancer, internalized stigma related to body image and gender identity may make them less likely to undergo preventive screenings for the disease,” FIU News reported.

The report added:

The World Health Organization has noted a measurably higher risk of breast and cervical cancer faced by transgender men who retain their genitalia of birth. For transgender women, the development of breast tissue due to hormonal treatment may also increase the risk of breast cancer.

The National Cancer Institute, part of the NIH – an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – awarded the grant to social scientists at FIU’s Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs, reported FIU News. The school plans to use the taxpayer funds to “study barriers to such screenings and how culturally sensitive, targeted interventions can support transgender persons in overcoming these barriers,” says the news report.

“Transgender men and transgender women have been under-studied with regard to reproductive cancer risk and there is very little information on how the disease affects their lives,’’ said Sheilla Rodriguez Madera, a professor in the Green School’s Department of Global & Sociocultural Studies and a principal investigator of the study. “Cancer screening is one of the most important behaviors for the prevention of this condition.’’

Madera, along with co-researchers Mark Padilla and Nelson Varas-Diaz, plan to utilize “transgender theory, which aims to understand how transgendered persons’ experiences can impact their health care decisions.” They will work with colleagues in Puerto Rico and San Francisco to minimize “health disparities” experienced by Latino transgenders, reported FIU News.

“We expect the gathered data will contribute to the understanding of multilevel barriers for breast and uterine cervix cancer among transgender women and transgender men and the future development of an intervention to address them,’’ Rodriguez Madera said.

Michelle Cretella, M.D., executive director of the American College of Pediatricians, which has posted a position statement on gender dysphoria in children and the consequences of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormone treatments, observed to Breitbart News the principal investigator openly states the “study” is drawing on subjective “transgender theory,” rather than “science” or the “scientific method.”

Cretella referred to FIU’s statement, “While transgender men and women have a higher risk of breast and cervical cancer,” and pointed out the higher risk is “possibly due solely to surpa-physiologic levels of testosterone in women and of estrogen in men.” She added the continued statement that ‘internalized stigma related to body image and gender identity may make them less likely to undergo preventive screenings for the disease,’” suggests bias.

The premise appears to be that “elevated cancer rates are due to internalized transphobia which causes trans-identified individuals to avoid routine healthcare,” she noted, adding the implication of that premise is that “citizens committed to biological reality and/or Judeo-Christian sexual ethics are the reason for elevated cancer risk among trans-identified people.”

Cretella continued that, prior to carrying out the “study,” the principal investigator says the authors’ expectation is already that “the gathered data will contribute to the understanding of multilevel barriers for breast and uterine cervix cancer among transgender women and transgender men.”

These quotes, she said, “foreshadow the confirmation bias sure to be ‘discovered’ in this ‘study.’”