Tried to write a caption on an ethnicity-altering hormone without inadvertently offending anyone 😅 boy, was that stressful

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In 2027, the World Health Organisation, alongside the FDA, published its advisory on the use of phenogenic hormones. Despite explosive outrage from both ends of the political spectrum and warnings from the TFPD, the WHO concluded that the newly developed phenogens were safe for therapeutic use.

Phenogens work similarly to traditional hormone replacement therapy, being administered daily via subcutaneous fat injection. They are chemically co-bonded during the manufacturing process to one of the many sex hormones, typically estrogen or testosterone, allowing them to piggyback across the cell membranes. Like other hormones, once within the cell, the phenogens modulate the expression or suppression of certain genes - the outward effect being, over days or weeks of administration, semi-permanent changes to superficial traits like hair type or skin pigmentation, without the need for cosmetic surgery, with even major alterations to skeletal structures or the outward appearance of age or youth possible with high dosage.

The public rollout met controversy immediately. The initial use case - to treat a small number of individuals expressing a transracial identity - proved inflammatory to a range of disparate political camps, who demanded a halt to production. The rather brazen commercial branding for the hormones didn't help. Rather than clinical, pharmaceutical packaging, they were sold under such eyecatching names as Chinestrogen or Russosterone, with the latter claiming to "Turn Anyone Into A Hairy Russian Bear Of A Man! (now with 20% less bonerot)", featured an image of a bear fucking an alligator, and was sold in gas station bathrooms. This advertising slogan unfortunately proved true - a manufacturing issue resulted in hirsutism and hyperaggression, and caused regulators to pull most testosterone-linked phenogens from the market until further notice.

To restore public trust in the safety of the pharmaceuticals, the WHO began offering free doses of Afregen to its aid workers stationed in high-UV climates and deemed at high risk of melanoma. Irishman Liam O’Callaghan would go on to become a spokeswoman for the brand, which was sold as an injection, in pill form, and also a hormone-infused sun lotion.