Chest binder vendors respond to 'absurd' FDA warning letter: 'Clearly discrimination'

"There are absolutely medical treatments and procedures that do treat gender dysphoria, but trying to call a chest binder a medical device, specifically because it is marketed towards trans people, in order to control it and make it inaccessible, is absurd and clearly discrimination,"

"Regular chest binders for pre-op use aren't a medical device in the same way that the scissors used to give someone a gender-affirming haircut aren't a medical device,"

"Push-up bras, which can be a gender affirming garment and also temporarily shift breast tissue into one's desired shape, would never get called a medical device - maybe because the people in power want to see more minor's boobs, not less."

"these products are [medical] devices because they are intended for use in the diagnosis of disease or other conditions or in the cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or to affect the structure or any function of the body."

The FDA sent warning letters to 11 companies selling chest binders, threatening fines and seizures for not registering binders as Class I medical devices. The companies named include TransGuy Supply, Fluxion, GenderBender LLC, ShapeShifter Apparel, Marli Washington Design, TomboyX, FLAVNT Streetwear, Early to Bed, TOMSCOUT, For Them, and UNTAG. Binders were never previously classified as medical devices, and sellers argue that such classification would restrict access and discriminate against transgender customers. The FDA cited marketing claims that binders alleviate gender dysphoria and asserted the products affect body structure or function.

Read at Advocate.com