BLACKBURN and Darwen health bosses have spent £470,000 in four-and-half years on drugs that stop obese people feeling hungry, it has been revealed.

The spend, by the borough's primary care trust, has been labelled "phenomenal" and a "waste of money".

And a doctor said people had to take more responsibility for their weight through improved diet and exercising.

The trust's spending on the drugs orlistat and sibutramine increased by 38 per cent over four years, more than three times the national average increase of 12 per cent.

Bosses have blamed the spending - obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Lancashire Telegraph - on rising levels of obesity in the borough.

The East Lancashire Primary Care Trust, which covers Hyndburn, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, said it did not have figures on its spending.

Coun Tony Humphrys, chairman of Blackburn with Darwen Council's health overview and social care overview and scrutiny committee, said: "It is a phenomenal amount of money.

"It is a waste of public money. We are going to end up like the Americans.

"People have to take responsibility for what they eat, especially parents.

"It is convenient for people to sit in front of the TV with a snack rather than round the table with a decent meal."

A spokesman for the TaxPayers' Alliance said: "We have to have a new system which imposes personal responsibility so hard working taxpayers who can control their appetite are not paying for those who can't."

Orlistat and sibutramin were approved for NHS funding in 2001. They are the only medicines licensed to treat obesity in the UK.

A health chief said the drugs were to help people lose weight in the short-term while they devised new ways of eating and exercising to lose the pounds for good.

The figures showed 3,313 prescriptions were made out for the drugs in 2005/06.

This means about 275 people took the drug if they continued their prescription for 12 months - though the figure as likely to be higher as this course is not recommended.

In the four financial years from 2002/03 to 2005/06 the spending on orlistat was around £60,000 although it increased to £90,844 last year.

Meanwhile spending on sibutramine went from £17,780 to £33,260 over the four years.

And the cost looks set to soar even higher for 2006/07 after figures for April to October 2006 showed £60,689 and £23,328 had been spent already on the drugs. This brings the total cost to £472,400.

The figures have not increased as dramatically in England, official figures from the NHS Business Services Authority show.

Expenditure on the drugs went from £31.2million in 2002 to £34.8million in 2006, an increase of 12 per cent.

And while the number of prescriptions has risen by 38 per cent in Blackburn with Darwen this has only gone up by six per cent in England.

Under official guidance the drugs can be prescribed to anyone with a body mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m2 or more.

A survey published this month found 15 per cent of males and 20 per cent of females in East Lancashire have this BMI - meaning about 8,000 men and 5,750 women could be eligible to get the drugs on the NHS.

Taken together, the survey showed one in two people are overweight or obese in the borough.

In 1996 the number of obese 18 to 39 year olds was just nine per cent.

Nationally, 23 per cent of woman and 22 per cent of men reach that BMI level.

The PCT defended the spending on the drugs.

Its prescribing advisor, Lindsay Holden, said: "Obesity drugs are helpful to certain people as a way of kick starting a comprehensive programme of weight loss.

"They are taken for a short time to help people lose weight whilst they are making the life style changes to their diet and exercise regimes that will enable them to maintain the benefits over the long term."

Dr Malcolm Ridgway, a member of the PCTs professional executive committee of health experts, said people had to take responsibility for their weight.

He said: "These do not in any way replace a good high fibre, low fat diet, including five-a-day fruit and vegetables, and regular exercise."

The committee's chairman, Dr Stephen Gunn, said: "The numbers are rising because there is an increase in obesity in the population and patients and doctors are more aware of the availability of these comparitively new drugs."

A person's BMI is calculated by dividing a person's weight in kilograms by their height in metres (e.g. 1.6m) and then by their height again.

Therefore a person who is 6ft and 16 stone would have a BMI of 30.5, making them obese. A person who is 5ft4ins and 12.5 stone would have a BMI of 30.

A person with a BMI of more than 40kg/m2 is classed as morbidly obese.