Interpol has issued a global warning about the dangers of “diet pills” after the death of a young British woman, news reports say.
The international police organisation alerted its forces in 190 countries after the 21-year-old Shrewsbury (Shropshire) resident, Eloise Parry, died last month following an overdose. She was a Glyndwr University student.
Interpol has raised the alarm over the presence of toxic pesticide, dinitrophenol (DNP), in the pills. It is also said to have left a Frenchman critically ill.
Parry died at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after taking the slimming tablets she bought online. Just hours before her death, she messaged a friend to say she was alone and knew she was going to die.
Dangers of DNP
A study conducted last year warned the drug, sometimes used as a weight-loss or body-building aid, could be linked to five more deaths in the United Kingdom between 2007 and 2013. It can cause breathing difficulties, faster heart rates, fever, nausea and vomiting.
In an Orange Notice issued by Interpol to warn of a threat to public safety at the request of French health authorities, the agency declared an “imminent threat” to consumers from DNP, which is used in making explosives.
According to Interpol, online distributors have tried to mask its supply by labelling it as turmeric because it looks quite similar.
A statement made by the agency said, “Although usually sold in yellow powder or capsule form, DNP is also available as a cream. Besides the intrinsic dangers of DNP, the risks associated with its use are magnified by illegal manufacturing conditions.”
Side effects also include skin lesions and cataracts, as well as damage to the heart and the central nervous system.
“In addition to being produced in clandestine laboratories with no hygiene regulations, without specialist manufacturing knowledge the producers also expose consumers to an increased chance of overdose,” the Interpol statement added.
After first being used in French munitions factories during the First World War, DNP became popular as a slimming aid among image-conscious consumers in the 1930s and 1980s.
The testing
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which has its headquarters in Canada, analysed a sample of DNP seized in Australia, giving rise to fears that it has become widely available on the black market again after having been withdrawn in the 1930s and again in the 1980s following deaths.
WADA Director General David Howman was quoted by the media as saying, “We are appreciative that Interpol has issued this global warning on DNP.”
“This is a perfect example of how crucial it is that law enforcement and anti-doping organisations continue to forge closer ties so that dangerous, and potentially fatal, substances such as DNP do not reach the hands of athletes,” he added.
Parry’s mother Fiona has warned others to avoid taking diet pills. She said her daughter’s metabolism had “exploded like TNT” after she took the pills to lose weight, causing her to burn up from the inside.
“When her heart stopped, they (doctors) couldn’t revive her. She had crashed. She had taken so much DNP that the consequences were inevitable. They never stood a chance of saving her. She burned and crashed.”
DNP is not illegal in the UK, because it is used as a pesticide. Websites offer the drug without restriction, with a clause stating that they do not take responsibility for how customers use it.
The local police are still conducting an investigation into Parry’s death.