Woman dies after taking 'diet pills' bought over internet

Police in Shropshire have issued a warning after the death of a woman who took “diet pills” bought over the internet.

Doctors were unable to save Eloise Aimee Parry, 21, from Shrewsbury, who took the tablets believed to contain the highly toxic industrial chemical dinitrophenol, also known as DNP.
Her mother, Fiona Parry, said her daughter had “burned up from the inside” and her metabolism “exploded like TNT” after taking the pills.
She said her daughter began feeling unwell at around lunchtime on 12 April and drove herself to Royal Shrewsbury hospital, where she explained to doctors what she had taken. She said there was “no great panic” because “[Eloise] was still completely lucid and with it. At this point she still seemed to be okay.”
All that changed when doctors carried out a toxicology report that revealed “how dire her situation was”.
“The drug was in her system, there was no antidote, two tablets was a lethal dose – and she had taken eight,” Fiona Parry said in a tribute. “As Eloise deteriorated, the staff in A&E did all they could to stabilise her.
“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 hearted 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.” Parry died the same day.
Her mother added that her daughter would be “greatly missed by everyone who knew her”. West Mercia police are conducting an investigation into Parry’s death and have issued a warning about buying diet pills online.
Ch Insp Jennifer Mattinson said: “We are undoubtedly concerned over the origin and sale of these pills and are working with partner agencies to establish where they were bought from and how they were advertised.
“The coroner’s report will establish the exact cause of Eloise’s death but we urge the public to be incredibly careful when purchasing medicine or supplements over the internet. Substances from unregistered websites could put your health at risk as they could be extremely harmful, out of date or fake.”
DNP has previously been marketed online as a “wonder slimming aid”. The chemical can accelerate a person’s metabolism to a “dangerously fast level”, which can trigger rapid breathing, an abnormally fast heartbeat and a fever, according to the NHS.
The Food Standards Agency has issued advice against consumption of DNP in any form, which it said “can be extremely dangerous to human health”.