Worcester family to ask Home Office to ban deadly diet drug DNP
Doug Shipsey has been campaigning to get the toxic chemical reclassified since his daughter's death.
Last updated 30th Jan 2023
The family of a young woman from Worcester, who died after taking toxic diet pills, is meeting with the security minister today, after it was confirmed the chemical compound DNP will be reclassified as a poison.
Bethany Shipsey died in 2017 after taking tablets containing DNP or 2,4-Dinitrophenol, which she'd bought online.
Her father Doug Shipsey has been campaigning for the chemical to be classified as a poison since her death.
Last week, the government laid legislation to regulate a number of substances including DNP. The new measures will come into force on 1 October 2023.
Today (January 30), Bethany's family and the families of several other young people who've died after taking the toxic pills will meet Security Minister Tom Tugendhat.
Mr Shipsey said: "It's taken six years of campaigning and 33 deaths to achieve this. And it's incredibly frustrating that it's taken that long and that it's bereaved parents that have had to fight for this substance to be added to the poisons list, considering it used to be on there in the 90s.
"And that's what we'll be asking the Home Office - to look at how it fell off the list and why it took so long to put back on.
"Ultimately what we're looking for is an outright ban."
Security Minister Tom Tugendhat said: “Around the UK, businesses and individuals use various chemicals for a wide range of legitimate uses. However, we must also minimise the risk posed by the illicit use of bomb-making materials and poisons.
“It is our responsibility to ensure our robust controls of these substances are updated and controls in place against those who wish to abuse them. These steps will do just that.”
What is DNP?
DNP or 2,4-DinitrophenolDinitrophenol is a highly toxic chemical often used as a pesticide.
It is sold illegally in diet pills as a fat-burning substance. DNP prevents energy being stored as fat; instead the energy is released as heat.
This increases body temperature which can damage the cells of organs such as muscle, kidney and brain.
The result can be seizures, coma, kidney failure, muscle damage and in many cases, has proven fatal.
DNP was classified as a poison until 1996.
Our #DyingToDiet campaign
Following Bethany's death in 2017, Free Radio launched its #DyingToDiet campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of toxic diet pills.
The campaign was backed by her father Doug, as well as the family of Eloise Parry from Shrewsbury who died in 2015 after taking DNP capsules.
Further backing came from the Food Standards Agency, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and Worcester MP Robin Walker. A number of universities, including Aston, the University of Birmingham and the University of Worcester, also supported our mission to raise awareness.
Simon Cotton, a Senior Lecturer in Chemistry at the University of Birmingham and expert in DNP, explained just how dangerous it is: