cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/18923980

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has dismissed suggestions that plans to provide weight loss jabs to unemployed people with obesity are “dystopian”.

The UK government is partnering with pharmaceutical giant Lilly who are running a five-year trial in Greater Manchester to test if the weight-loss drug Mounjaro can help get more people back to work and prevent obesity-related diseases to ease the strain on the NHS in England.

The announcement prompted a backlash, with accusations that the government was stigmatising unemployed individuals and reducing people to their economic value.

Speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Streeting said the jabs were part of a broader healthcare plan, adding that he was “not interested in some dystopian future where I involuntarily jab unemployed people who are overweight”.

  • Landsharkgun
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    2 months ago

    …the government is freely giving poor people a drug that costs $1000 a month to correct a stigmatized health condition and people are complaining? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.

    • Hibernative_Naptosis@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Looks like it’s around £130-£180 per month on private prescription in the UK, or under £10 per month on an NHS prescription for those who qualify.

      $1000 is what it costs in the price-bloated American healthcare system.

    • beefbot@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      2 months ago

      It’s likely not the case. Somewhere between the truth and what we read here, truth has gotten hidden or twisted. This is an article on a news website: any info that someone deemed worthy to publish has some flavour of propaganda, even if we can’t see it clearly.

    • T156@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      But this isn’t mood altering substances, it’s an obsesity drug.

      Like antibiotics, it should be fine as long as it isn’t forced on people.

      • Krauerking@lemy.lol
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        2 months ago

        Receptors for GLP-1 are found in the pancreas, the gut and several regions of the brain involved in mood regulation, he said.

        “They can affect the release and activity of neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin, which play a crucial role in emotional well-being,” Arillotta added. “For these reasons, GLP-1 RAs are thought to have antidepressant effects.” Dopamine and serotonin are mood-enhancing chemicals that are often called the “feel-good” hormones.1

        No we really don’t know that. Some have even bragged about it being useful for treating addiction in other places like gambling. It’s all just a crap shoot of people hoping this is a miracle drug to fix everything easily.

  • Eximius@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    ITT: Lots of Americans getting insulted by the fact that obesity brings health problems, and the fact that being obese is a self-destructive choice.

    • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Maybe sometimes.

      Obesity is only a choice if mental health issues are a choice too.

      ITT : people who think you can “man up” your way through compulsion.

    • 474D@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Hey don’t narrow it to just Americans, we’re not even the fattest country anymore I don’t think

      • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        Wow, looked it up just now; apparently the US is only #15, after a bunch of Pacific islands, and a couple others

    • Glytch@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Where are the insulted Americans? I see only a few comments and no one seems offended to me.

      Is this a fediverse thing where I’m not seeing all the comments or are you just making shit up to be self righteous about?

      I’ve got a sneaking suspicion that it’s the second one.

    • Letstakealook@lemm.ee
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      2 months ago

      Look at that! Eurotrash making up shit to hate on Americans about. Literally the worst people in all of human history but still manage to be smug about it, lmao.