Global police agency issues alert about tablets containing 2,4-Dinitrophenol – which make metabolism soar and cause people to ‘burn up from within’

Interpol has issued a global alert over diet pills that last month claimed the life of a 21-year-old woman from Shropshire.

The world police agency cited the case of Eloise Parry, as well as that of a Frenchman left seriously ill, as it raised the alarm over tablets containing the compound 2,4-Dinitrophenol.

Parry died at Royal Shrewsbury hospital last month after taking tablets she bought online. Police believe they included a quantity of the industrial chemical, known as DNP.

An Interpol orange notice – which warn of imminent threats – has been sent to police forces in 190 countries at the request of French interior ministry. The agency declared an “imminent threat” to consumers from DNP, which is used as a pesticide and has also been used in explosives.

The notice warns of increasing demand for the substance, particularly in bodybuilding circles. Online distributors have tried to mask its supply from customs and police by labelling it as the spice turmeric, because it looks similar, Interpol said.



A statement from the agency added: “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.

“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.”

DNP has in the past decade become increasingly popular among bodybuilders as a “quick fix” for rapid weight loss, according to NHS Choices. It does this by accelerating a person’s metabolism to a dangerously fast level.

Long-term side effects include skin lesions and cataracts, as well as damage to the heart and central nervous system. Research on animals suggests DNP is carcinogenic and increases the risk of birth defects.

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became popular as a slimming aid among image-conscious consumers in the 1930s and again in the 1980s, each time being withdrawn after related deaths.

Interpol said the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had analysed a sample found in a product bought online in Australia and labelled as “Health and Beauty Turmeric capsules: Extra Strength”.

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 administer it.

West Mercia police were still conducting an investigation into Parry’s death and last month issued a warning about buying diet pills online. Her mother, Fiona, 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.

Eloise began feeling unwell about lunchtime on 12 April and drove herself to the hospital, where she explained to doctors what she had taken. Fiona said there was no great panic because “[Eloise] was still completely lucid and with it. At this point she still seemed to be OK.”

That changed when doctors carried out a toxicology report. “The drug was in her system, there was no antidote, two tablets was a lethal dose and she had taken eight,” Fiona said in a tribute posted online.

“As the drug kicked in and started to make her metabolism soar, they attempted to cool her down but they were fighting an uphill battle. She was literally burning up from within. When she stopped breathing, they put her on a ventilator and carried on fighting to save her.

“When her heart stopped they 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.”

A study last year warned the drug could be linked to five more deaths in the UK between 2007 and 2013. Fiona Parry warned others to avoid it. “My message would be please don’t, please don’t take this drug,” she said. “They will take their toll and it is an awful way to die.”