Paul Ford, a technology journalist, wrote last year about how a drug that regulated satiety had changed him. “I have been the living embodiment of the deadly sin of gluttony, judged as greedy and weak since I was 10 years old – and now the sin is washed away.” The drug, Mounjaro, offered a rebirth without a new ethical outlook. Mr Ford said he’d had a “Baptism by injection. But I have no more virtue than I did a few months ago.”
This might be attractive to those making new year resolutions that promise improvements in their lives. Weight-loss drugs reveal that obesity is not a deep-seated aspect of character but something more contingent. Obesity is made by modernity, not just poor choices. The spread of expanding waistlines is driven by sedentary work and the abundance of cheap, high-calorie processed foods. Carrying too much weight causes a host of health problems. The novel treatments raise questions about the type of society we want. The drugs are also not cheap. Healthcare analyst Airfinity says it would cost $1.1m to prevent “one heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death” using the weight-loss treatment Wegovy.
