People with obesity should be stigmatised in much the same way as smokers are, a US expert on bioethics has claimed.

The comment comes from Daniel Callahan, co-founder of the Hastings Center, a research institute dedicated to investigating ethical issues in relation to health and the environment.

According to Mr Callahan, obesity ‘may be the most difficult and elusive public health problem' ever encountered and a bold approach is now needed to tackle the issue.

He insisted that a lot can be learned from the anti-smoking campaign. One of the main strategies used by these campaigners is to stigmatise smokers, emphasising that not only is smoking dangerous for your health, it is also socially unacceptable.

He pointed out that in the US, those working in the field of public health have repeatedly rejected the idea of stigmatising obese people. However, Mr Callahan believes it is now time for a change.

While acknowledging that stigmatisation can cause harm, for example, it can increase the risk of discrimination in healthcare or the workplace, he believes that this risk could be minimised if a strategy he terms ‘stigmatisation lite' was used.

With this strategy, people who are overweight begin to believe that the threat of discrimination is something so bad, it should be avoided. It utilises the idea - ‘do not let this happen to you'.

This strategy, he added, would not replace current policies, such as the promotion of healthy eating, but would complement them.

Mr Callahan made his comments in an article in the Hastings Center Report.