Ecstasy ingredient linked to illness

The compound, known as benzylpiperazine (BZP), is toxic to the body’s cells, according to the first study of its kind.

BZP has replaced MDMA as the main ingredient in ecstasy tablets, though it does not produce the same intense feeling of euphoria.

But in terms of toxicity, researchers found that BZP can cause serious damage to the body.

Scientists at Anglia Ruskin University analysed the most serious effects of BZP and other compounds in a class known as piperazines.

Cells derived from the liver and kidney were exposed to BZP at concentrations which reflected a dose for a user of the drug.

Any significant changes, such as how the drug interfered with the natural process of cells dying off, were noted.

The results showed that BZP itself was toxic to the kidney and its starting material, piperazine hexahydrate, was toxic to the liver.

Professor Mike Cole, one of the researchers on the study, said: “Mixtures of drugs and impurities, synthesised to reflect street samples, produced a variety of toxic effects depending upon the composition of the mixture. But all were significantly toxic.

“The work is important because it begins to provide an explanation of why people who have taken these drugs exhibit the symptoms that they do in A&E rooms.

“It also shows that different batches of drugs will have different effects because of the different proportions of drug and impurity in the material, and that users are exposed to toxic mixtures of drugs for which both the short and longer-term effects will not be known and cannot easily be predicted.”

Prof Cole said the kind of damage a person may suffer would depend on the strength of the pill and their body’s reaction to it.

“It’s a mixed bag,” he said. “It would depend very much on the individual, and it would depend on how well the drug has been made or purified.”