Weight loss jabs for unemployed not dystopian, says Wes Streeting - BBC News
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The government is looking into whether weight-loss drugs can help get more people back to work.

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”.

  • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
    71·
    1 day ago

    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.

    Slaver class never left…

    • Jackthelad@lemmy.worldEnglish
      7·
      23 hours ago

      If the reason you’re out of work is obesity and you can get something for free to help you back into work, how is that not beneficial for everyone?

      Or is it better for people to just be stuck on benefits forever?

      • sunzu2@thebrainbin.org
        41·
        23 hours ago

        I am not arguing against that but read between the lines what they are doing here…

        1. The angle is for the state to pay for this, ie taxapyer. If the drug works, then fine.
        2. They are not doing this out of good of their heart, western society is in a demographic crisis and labor shortages are a thing. This puts pressure on corporate to pay higher wage. They are allergic to this concept. So here we got capitalism saving capitalism… We are not helping this people because we care we are helping them because the orphan crushing machine requires more orphans.
    • Chuymatt@beehaw.org
      4·
      23 hours ago

      I’m not positive that is not just a way to make it more palatable to that class. There’s a very easy connection to make with obesity and it’s related diseases, depression, and unemployment. If you’re trying to do public health with a national health organization, you want to reduce the load of those chronic disease diseases.