Senior coroner to write to MPs to ask if DNP should be classified substance

DNP toxicity caused death of young UK woman: Coroner

By Annie Harrison-Dunn

- Last updated on GMT

"She weighed the pros and cons and made a bad choice, it cost her her life," says young woman's mother
"She weighed the pros and cons and made a bad choice, it cost her her life," says young woman's mother

Related tags Dnp

Highly toxic 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) diet pills were behind the death of 21-year-old Eloise Aimee Parry, a coroner's inquest found.

Parry died in Shrewsbury Hospital in the UK on 12th April​ after taking eight diet pills she bought online. UK newspaper The Telegraph reported that they came from Germany.

Yesterday’s inquest heard how Parry had been struggling with the eating disorder bulimia and had googled the risks of taking the industrial chemical before buying.

According to UK TV channel ITV, senior Shropshire coroner, John Ellery, said he would be writing to ministers to ask whether DNP should be a classified substance. 

Campaigning against DNP

Speaking to media the victim's mother Fiona Parry said: Eloise decided that even though she'd been told DNP was dangerous, being slimmer was worth the risk. She was convinced that the dangers were being exaggerated.

Eloise_Aimee_Parry1
Eloise Aimee Parry was reportedly described by her doctor as a "deeply troubled but highly intelligent" young woman.

"She weighed the pros and cons and made a bad choice, it cost her her life."

Parry has made several media appearances since the death of her daughter, who admitted herself to hospital but deteriorated soon after.

Outside the inquest a tearful Parry said: “I would implore anyone even considering taking DNP or something similar not to do so. These substances are sold by people who don't care about your health, they just want your money.

“So please don't do it, looking good should never cost you your health or your life. DNP, do not purchase, do not partake...death's not pleasant.”

The UK’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) released a video on the same day as the inquest.

The FSA encouraged people who come across DNP sold online for human consumption – also known as 2,4-dinitrophenol, Dinosan, Dnoc, Solfo Black, Nitrophen, Aldifen and Chemox – to report it to its food crime unit by emailing sbbqsenhq@sbbqfgnaqneqf.tfv.tbi.hx​.

What’s being done?

One Twitter user asked the FSA why DNP was still available for sale online, to which it replied that its National Food Crime Unit had worked with overseas partners to close 47 websites since 2012, five of which were overseas.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Andy Chatting reportedly told the inquest: "One site has closed down, but the caveat is sites close down [but] pop up in almost identical format hours later."

West Mercia Police said it was working with the FSA and International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) on the matter, which issued an imminent threat ‘Orange Notice’ on the “re-emergence”​ of DNP back in May.

At the end of June an INTERPOL-coordinated operation, Operation Pangea VIII, seized 20 million illicit medicinal products.

At part of this international collaboration between Canada, France, the UK, the US, INTERPOL and the private sector, two internet domain names selling DNP were shut down.

This came after Eloise Aimee Parry’s death and a French man was left seriously ill after taking the substances sold on these sites.

Ireland also has its own ongoing investigation into the death of a man​ in his 20s believed to have taken DNP. No products were found in relation to this fatality in June but separate investigation's had seen products seized​.  

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

In Weight Management Go Beyond with Slendacor®

In Weight Management Go Beyond with Slendacor®

Content provided by PLT Health Solutions | 22-Feb-2024 | White Paper

Slendacor® is a synergistic, patented formulation of three standardized herbal extracts: turmeric (Curcuma longa), moringa (Moringa oleifera) and curry...

Sweetening solution for active nutrition

Sweetening solution for active nutrition

Content provided by ADM | 19-Feb-2024 | Case Study

When you add GrainSweet® Liquid Maltodextrin to your active nutrition applications, you get the production efficiencies, clean labels, and clean tastes...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars