Interpol issues warning over diet pills which caused death of Shrewsbury woman
Interpol has issued a global alert over diet pills that are believed to be responsible for the death of Shrewsbury woman Eloise Parry and left a French man seriously ill.
Eloise Parry, 21, went to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after taking the pills and sadly died on Sunday 12 April.
It is believed she inadvertently took an overdose after buying the pills online.
Five other people have been killed after taking the chemical since 2008.
Police in 190 countries have now been issued with the Orange Notice warning about DNP, which is also used as a raw material for explosives.
The toxic chemical is falsely marketed as a ‘miracle diet pill’ and sold online for as little as 70p a tablet.
Under its anti-doping project, Interpol collaborated with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and received additional information from the global anti-doping organization after one of the WADA-accredited laboratories received a sample of the drug following a seizure in Australia.
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.
In the 1930s DNP was used to boost metabolism and encourage weight loss, but it was taken out of circulation because of several deaths.
