O-free-sity?

If you see a product promoted by Elon MuskA South African-born entrepreneur whose companies have included the online payment service PayPal. and Kim Kardashian, you might think of daring modern fashion or ultra-fast cars. You are most likely not expecting a $1,200-per-month (£991) injection now touted by the NHSThe National Health Service, the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. The NHS was founded in 1948. to cure obesity.

Semaglutide is described by celebrities and health professionals alike as a "wonder drug", which can help you to lose an astonishing 15-20% of your body weight in just 68 weeks. It mimics the effect of the gut hormone GLP-1, which regulates our appetite. Originally designed as a treatment for type 2 diabetesA medical condition causing there to be too much sugar in the blood. , it dramatically suppresses the appetite for as long as it is taken.

In many ways, it is a miracle. Obesity is one of the world's greatest killers, causing as many as 15% of deaths in some regions, including Central Asia, Eastern Europe, North Africa and Latin America, and around five million deaths worldwide every year. It is a major risk factor for heart disease, strokes, diabetes and cancer.

And the problem is only growing: more than half of the world's population is expected to be overweight or obese by 2035, compared to 38% currently, according to the World Obesity Foundation.¹

Despite controversy, semaglutide has been approved for use on the NHS, and will be widely available at huge high street chemists in the UK. It has to be injected weekly and some experts warn that its long-term side effects are not yet strictly known.

And in further revelations, investigators found that the drug giant behind the new treatment, Novo Nordisk, paid millions to health experts who went on to praise the drug.

Many have spoken out against the "skinny jab". Some feel that it could remove the element of personal responsibility from our eating habits.

As legend goes, the ancient Romans would be so keen to indulge heavily at their lavish feasts that they would vomit between courses to ensure that the gluttonyExcessive overeating. In Catholicism, it is included as one of the seven deadly sins. could continue unimpeded by the limits of their bodies. Some think a "skinny drug" would act similarly, incentivising excessive overconsumption with the promise of a quick and easily available "fix".

Others warn that it obscures the real issue. Obesity may be a dangerous killer, but it is to an extent only the symptom of a larger problem: the widespread availability of processed foods over healthy alternatives, along with a toxic system of advertising which has taught us to crave junk food.

In any case, it is symptomatic of how being fat or thin has been transformed into a moral problem. Much of the outcry centres on the idea of "fairness" - whether it is fair that people who would otherwise have been fat can become thin with the help of a drug, rather than through eating a calorie deficit and exercising.

But many experts have pointed out the flaws in this line of thinking. Dieting and exercise to combat obesity are thought by some to work for only 10-20%, and weight is thought to be dependent as much on geneticsA branch of science that studies genes. Genetics can include looking at how some diseases are passed down the generations, like cancer or heart problems. as on behaviour.²

Perhaps prevention would be a more ideal "cure" to obesity - teaching children cooking skills and nutritional literacy, whilst taxing or reducing the availability of unhealthy processed foods and subsidising their healthy alternatives, for example. But this approach, many say, would not help for everyone, proving for some that the drug is still a "big leap forward".

Yes: This drug will teach people that it is okay to excessively over-consume without consequences. This is not only ultimately unsustainable for health, but also for global food production and the environment.

No: Free will does not come into obesity for many obese people. Instead, obesity is something which traps them and which they cannot escape. We must stop assuming that weight is always the result of choice.

Or... If somebody found a drug that cured lung cancer, people would be unlikely to disapprove of it on the grounds that it might cause more smoking. The backlash against this drug is merely a result of fatphobiaPrejudice or bias against people who are overweight. .