Ban killer slimming pill say family of tragic student Sarah

Leeds University student Sarah Houston, 23, a bulimia sufferer, was found dead in her bedroom in the city after secretly taking dinitrophenol, known as DNP, in September last year.

Geoff and Gina Houston, from Chesham, Berkshire, have called for new regulation of the chemical – used as a pesticide – and a ban on the “morally repugnant” practice of selling it in capsule form for human consumption.

David Cameron said today he will “look carefully” at what the Government can do to warn people about the dangers of weight loss aids which are legally sold for other uses but are banned for human consumption.

But the Prime Minister said it was not an “easy issue” and did not commit to banning the online trade in pesticides sold as slimming drugs.

The Food Standards Agency last year issued a national alert about the risks of taking the chemical which was marketed in the 1930s as a slimming aid before being withdrawn, warning it is extremely dangerous to human health. It is now, however, marketed for human consumption online.

Mr Houston, 55, a former stockbroker, said: “Of course, if it is used as a herbicide or a pesticide then it comes in a liquid form and therefore would be sold in drums rather than capsules.

“It is morally repugnant for people to package it in capsules for people to use.

“In capsule form you can hardly spray your crops with it.”

Ms Houston’s parents added they hoped their daughter’s death will at least help highlight the dangers to prevent further tragedies.

“We want to make people who are using it aware of the dangers then perhaps we will be able to save lives.

“Also if we can make people who are selling it aware – we strongly recommend that they stop doing it because these capsules can be lethal, if there is an ounce of moral integrity, then these people who are selling it should stop immediately.

“No parent should suffer this type of grief of losing a child. Education is needed about this.”

Mrs Houston said their daughter, a fourth-year medical student, would have made a “huge contribution” to society if she had lived.

Miss Houston had struggled with anorexia and bulimia from the age of 14.

But her father said no-one had known she had been taking DNP and the discovery of the diet pills had come as a shock. “It was only when they were analysed that we found out that this was DNP.”

Mrs Houston, 55, a former clinical scientist with a PhD in pharmacology, said their daughter’s death had been “devastating”.

Two months before her death, she had been helping with the charity Street Kids Direct in Guatemala, central America.

“It is such a tragic waste,” she said. “She was a person who would have gone on to have made a huge contribution to life and to society in the future.”

He said his daughter had made “enormous progress” battling her eating disorder and her psychiatrist had been “about to suggest” they ended appointments.

At an inquest held in Wakefield into Ms Houston’s death on Monday, West Yorkshire coroner David Hinchliff recorded a verdict of death by misadventure.

He said he would urge all relevant government departments to take action to control DNP.

The hearing heard Ms Houston had been taking DNP with an anti-depressant, prescribed to treat her bulimia. The combination of the two drugs may have proved fatal, the inquest heard.

She was found dead in her bedroom by a flatmate the day after refusing to call an ambulance when she felt hot and unwell.

A spokesman for the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency urged people not to take medical products bought online without consulting a pharmacist or doctor first.

A statement from Ms Houston’s brother, James, 29, who is a doctor, said there had been at least 62 further deaths related to DNP.

He said it was “incomprehensible” such a toxic substance could be marketed on the net.

Caroline Nokes, Tory MP for Romsey and Southampton North, highlighted the issue at Prime Minister’s Questions in the Commons, saying to Mr Cameron: “62 people have died using DNP - a highly toxic herbicide banned for use as a slimming drug but easily available online alongside other dubious slimming products.

“What commitment can you give that you will work across Government to make sure that this trade is stopped and in so doing help to prevent the deaths of more young people?”

The Prime Minister replied: “Like many people I read the tragic case of the girl who died from taking this substance and one can only think of the heartache her family and other families go through when things like this happen.

“I will very carefully look at what you say.

“This isn’t an easy issue because of course the substance is banned as a slimming drug but as I understand it it is legal as a herbicide.

“And so we have to look carefully as she says across Government about what more we can do to warn people about these things.”