MPs who oppose the ban on puberty blockers are spreading “irresponsible” misinformation, Baroness Cass has said.

The peer accused Labour and Green Party backbenchers of “misunderstanding” medical evidence after they criticised the new ban on the drugs.

Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, announced on Wednesday that puberty blockers would no longer be given to children who want to change gender.

But the drugs, formally known as Gonadotrophin-releasing hormone analogues, will still be prescribed for early-onset puberty and cancer treatment.

That prompted allegations that the Government’s ban would be “used as an attack on trans young people” in the House of Commons.

Alex Sobel, the Labour MP for Leeds Central and Headingley, said: “Can he assure me that this will be for all under-18s and this is not just for those with gender dysphoria? Otherwise, and he well knows this, that this will be used as an attack on trans young people.”

Sian Berry, the Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, added: “Does he understand that this is at heart, discriminatory?”

Speaking to The Times, Baroness Cass, the author of a landmark report into the treatment of children with gender dysphoria, said “misinformation” about the ban had been spread and it was “irresponsible for people to shroud-wave in that way”.

“What is worrying is when people say that if children don’t get these drugs, they will die because clearly, that’s not true,” she said.

The peer added: “It’s not based on discrimination. It’s based on science and certainty about safety and effectiveness.”

Baroness Cass said the “single biggest piece of misinformation” about puberty blockers was that they were a one-size-fits-all solution for children with gender dysphoria.

“I think that’s the biggest misunderstanding, that this is one group of young people that all need the same answer,” she said.

The drugs were banned after an independent report by the Commission on Human Medicines found that there is “currently an unacceptable safety risk in the continued prescription of puberty blockers to children”.

The drugs, which stop the onset of puberty and had been routinely given to children questioning their gender, will now only be available through a clinical trial run by the NHS.

The ban applies to all NHS and private practices in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, despite health being a devolved matter.

NHS England said that it “closes a loophole that posed a risk to the safety of children and young people”.