Unregulated weight-loss jabs ‘like playing Russian roulette’, says MP

An MP who lost nearly 10 stone on Mounjaro has said people who take unregulated weight-loss jabs are “playing Russian roulette with their lives”.

Labour MP for Neath and Swansea East, Carolyn Harris, went from being a size 24 to a size 10 after starting to take the slimming drug in October 2024 having developed mobility issues.

She also said she was fed up of “relentless criticism” about her appearance from online trolls, but has urged others to ensure they use the proper regulated channels for “health-related reasons” only.

“I made sure I went to a GP to get mine, rather than just go online, because I really wanted to make sure all the correct medical checks were done,” she added.

Ms Harris decided to begin private treatment after increasingly struggling to get around her constituency, which came to a head while walking around a lake in Swansea to celebrate International Menopause Day.

“I started having difficulty and had to stop a quarter of the way in,” she said.

Another motivation was the “constant” cruel comments she received online.

“How I looked or what I was wearing had become more import than my politics, ” the 65-year-old told BBC Wales Breakfast.

“I can be bolshie if I’m fighting for a cause or for someone else, but deep down I’m very sensitive.”

But Ms Harris said others opting to take weight-loss drugs should do so for “health related, life-changing reasons”, not because they want to “lose a few pounds ahead of a big night out”.

The National Pharmacy Association recently voiced concerns about the surge in demand for the likes of Mounjaro or Ozempic and how people were turning to beauty salons or social media to get them.

In England, anyone prescribing weight-loss injections must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

But in Wales, only doctors are required to register with the CQC’s Welsh equivalent, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW), meaning other healthcare professionals are not legally required to meet the same standards or be routinely inspected.

Some experts have described this as inadequate regulation, opening up an unsafe black market for such products.

“The people who elect to get these drugs from unlicensed places are playing Russian roulette with their lives,” said Ms Harris.

“They don’t know what they might be injecting into themselves and that terrifies me.”

Welsh Government has been contacted for a response.