'No better than cocaine pushers': MailOnline exposes unscrupulous Chinese factories selling toxic DNP diet pills that have killed six Britons and 60 worldwide by 'burning them to death from inside'
- Toxic DNP diet pills have killed six young Britons including Eloise Parry, 21
- But Chinese drug factories still advertise deadly powder as 'slimming aid'
- The chemical, used as a pesticide, causes nausea, vomiting, excessive sweating, irregular heartbeat and, in some cases, death
- Traders offered to sell MailOnline 30kg of the pesticide - despite being illegal for human consumption in the UK and killing 60 people worldwide
- They even offered to disguise drug packaging to get it past Customs
- Interpol has issued a warning over DNP being sold illegally as a diet drug
Toxic diet pills that have killed six young Britons are being offered for sale on the internet by unscrupulous Chinese chemical manufacturers, a MailOnline investigation has revealed.
Firms in China agreed to sell vast quantities of the potentially fatal drug to undercover reporters posing as businessmen planning to sell the chemical to help people to lose weight in the UK.
They even advised on how to smuggle the dangerous chemical into Britain by offering to disguise the packaging and change its name to get it past Customs officials.
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'Burned up inside': Police are still investigating where Eloise Parry, 21, bought the diet pills which killed her. She took eight pills - six more than the fatal dose
The Zhengzhou PanPan Chemical Co Ltd offered to sell MailOnline investigators DNP as a slimming aid for human consumption, which is illegal in the UK. They also offered to disguise drugs in misleading packaging to get them past Customs
The Beijing Herbal Health Biotech Limited Liability Company offered to sell us DNP for human consumption. The salesman was told we were importing it to Britain as a slimming pill and struck a deal to sell 30kg for $840
The poisonous drug, DNP or 2,4-Dinitrophenol, which can cause the body to overheat leading to hyperthermia and burns users' insides, is widely used as an explosive and an agricultural pesticide.
But it is also repackaged into easy-to-swallow capsules and sold illegally on the internet as aggressive 'fat burner' weight-loss tablets, alongside claims that it can help users shed 'a pound a day' without dieting.
The latest DNP victim in the UK was Eloise Parry, 21, who died last month after taking eight pills – six more than a fatal dose.
Eloise, from Shrewsbury, is one of six Britons who have been fatally poisoned by DNP in recent years.
Last night her mother Fiona, 51, thanked MailOnline for exposing this 'totally immoral' trade.
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'We are never going to be able to stop this stuff being put on sale but at least we can alert people to the dangers,' she said.
Interpol last week issued a global warning about the odourless powder, which has killed 60 people worldwide, amid growing concern about the illegal sale of the chemical as a diet drug.
Issued at the request of the French Ministry of the Interior’s Central Office for the Protection of the Environment and Public Health, Interpol's 'Orange Notice' alert - which was circulated to all 190 member countries - was made to raise public awareness following the death of Eloise and the case of a French man left 'seriously ill' after taking the substance.
But, despite the warning, a MailOnline investigation has found hundreds of firms selling DNP – with two websites in China specifically advertising it as a weight loss drug.
Both companies we approached were willing to flout the law and sell the toxic chemical in the full knowledge that we planned to put it into capsules and sell it as a slimming aid.
And both even offered to do the transaction through a middle man who would disguise the powder as something else to get the powder past the authorities.
'Totally immoral': Fiona Parry, whose 21-year old Eloise (pictured during school years in the photo frame) died after swallowing eight DNP diet pills, is furious that Chinese factories continue to sell the pesticide as a slimming aid
Beijing Herbal Health Biotech Limited Liability Company advertises a number of potentially harmful weight loss products, including DNP.
A salesman boasted his Beijing-based company already exports it to the USA, Europe and 'probably' the UK.
When the salesman was told that we wanted to put the powder into capsules and sell it as a slimming aid for human consumption, he confirmed he was happy to take the order.
Admitting he had 'no idea' about British regulations, he was then asked about recommended dosage.
Washing his hands of all responsibility, he replied: 'I don't know so much about this, either. But usually the capsule comes as two forms; 300mg and 500mg.
'You will decide how much you want to fill and whether you fill only DNP or other elements as well.'
He agreed to sell our reporter 30kg of the powder for $28 a kg in a deal worth $840. The DNP would be delivered in just 12 days, it was agreed.
A second company, Zhengzhou Panpan Company, based in the Henan Province, China, also offered to fraudulently alter the product's export licence to smuggle it in the UK.
Negotiating a deal for 30kg of DNP, sales manager Nancy Hu claimed that 'the material is risky', and suggested that, should we do 'everything by the book', she couldn't do business with us.
Ms Hu went on: 'We should be very careful especially with the powder products, and we need to change the name if (shipped) by air.
'We transfer the goods to the forwarder but first need to get all the documents ready.
'We change the name and show them required documents.
'The forwarder is only in charge of delivery.
'The customers in the foreign country should cooperate when receiving the goods there, like they sometimes need to bring their invoice and they can't say, "oh, these products are not I have asked for",' she added.
Ms Hu offered us a discount on an order over 20kg and promised delivery to the UK within 20 days.
But she reacted angrily when we later revealed that we were investigating the illegal export of deadly DNP for human consumption.
Initially she denied selling at all despite it being advertised on the website, telling MailOnline: 'We don't have DNP. My company doesn't sell DNP. We don't call it DNP. Moreover, we only sell it as fertilizer.
'I don't need to explain,' she added, before hanging up the phone.
A Beijing Herbal Health Biotech Limited spokesman also said: 'If clients want to buy the product from us, we as their supplier don't necessarily know what they will use if for.
'We don't focus on having to check [the] client's intention. DNP is not a dangerous product.
'Whether or not it's dangerous depending on how the consumer uses them. We will tell clients how much they should use. If the quantity is small, then there is no danger.'
But the bereaved parents of six Britons who watched their children die from taking DNP last night reacted with fury that the killer drug is so widely available, and recklessly sold, despite regulation.
Eloise's mother Mrs Parry, a chemistry teacher, blasted the Chinese powder peddlers.
Describing how her daughter 'burned from the inside', Mrs Parry, 51, said: 'I have felt so helpless to stop these people so I thank you [MailOnline] for highlighting it.'
Capsules: Our investigators told the Chinese drug peddlers that we wanted to put the exported DNP powder into capsules to make them easy to swallow for human consumption, which is illegal in the UK. Both factories agreed and were happy to do a deal on that basis
'It does not come as a surprise that companies in China are prepared to sell DNP as a slimming product.
'For them to say "it's not my problem" is totally immoral. They are drug dealers. They are no better than cocaine manufacturers,' she added.
Mrs Parry found the drug in her daughter's handbag after her death in hospital on April 12.
She said it was sent in a 'nondescript' plastic bag labelled with a white sticker embossed with the letters 'DNP' and an illustration of its chemical formula.
Eloise – known as Ella – bought her capsules over the internet but her mother does not know the identity of the supplier.
She added: 'The police are looking into where Ella bought the tablets.'
Mrs Parry was joined by Lesley Mapletoft, whose son Chris, 18, a talented sixth form rugby player died after taking it in September 2013.
Chris had just completed his A-levels at the £15,000-a-year Hampton School in West London and was planning on studying a business degree at university.
Mrs Mapletoft, 54, told MailOnline: 'We lost our son nearly two years ago and it has been devastating. It's appalling that companies and unscrupulous people think that they are able to get away with this.
'The way they sell it through websites which are closed down and then opened up again is completely immoral.'
Sean Cleathero, 28, died in 2012 after he drank a dissolved a sachet of DNP as part of a fitness and weight-loss plan.
The body-builder from Buckinghamshire could not stop sweating and was rushed to hospital when he started to struggle to breathe.
Sean's mum Sharon Ayres told MailOnline: 'If people are selling DNP in bulk they is only one reason and that is as a slimming aid. It's immoral and wrong. It's disgusting.'
DNP, a yellow organic compound, is used to suppress plant growth and as an explosive.
First used in the manufacture of ammunition during World War I, it was launched as a slimming aid in 1933 when scientists discovered that it raised a person's metabolic rate.
But it was banned in 1938 due to severe side effects including heart attacks and death.
Symptoms include fever, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, restlessness, flushed skin, excessive sweating, dizziness, headaches, rapid breathing and rapid and irregular heartbeat.
The drug has also been linked to cancer, cataracts, heart and nerve damage and an increased risk of birth defects in children.
Despite this, the odourless powder has become increasingly popular, especially among pressured young people concerned about their physical appearance and body builders.
THE YOUNG VICTIMS OF KILLER DRUG DNP
Eloise Parry burned up from the inside, dying in agony three hours after taking DNP in a misguided attempt to control her weight.
Eloise - known as Ella - 21, from Shrewsbury, who suffered from the eating disorder bulimia, drove herself to hospital after taking eight 'fat burner' pills which contained DNP. The fatal dose is just two.
Medical staff told her there was no antidote to DNP poisoning. She overheated and died three hours later.
She was in the middle of a families and childcare studies degree at Glyndwr University when she died, and also volunteered for West Mercia Women's Aid and the YMCA.
Eloise Parry, 21, (pictured left) took eight DNP tablets before driving herself to hospital where she died in April. Her mum Fiona says she had no idea how dangerous the slimming pills she was taking were. Chris Mapletoft (pictured right) was a talented rugby player who died from taking the drug aged 18 before receiving his A-level results
Talented sixth form rugby player Chris Mapletoft, from Twickenham, Middlesex, became the youngest person to die after taking the banned fat burning diet pill aged 18, in June 2013.
The teenager died at home after swallowing DNP at home, which he had bought over the internet.
His mother Lesley Mapletoft, 54, told MailOnline: 'I think it should be made illegal to put a fertilizer into a tablet and sell it as diet pills – it's a killer.'
Chris had just completed his A-levels at the £15,000-a-year Hampton School in West London and was planning on studying a business degree at university.
Sean Cleathero, 28, drank a dissolved a sachet of DNP as part of a fitness and weight-loss plan.
The body-builder from Buckinghamshire could not stop sweating and was rushed to hospital when he started to struggle to breathe.
His temperature soared to 42C – well above the average body temperature of 37C – and he died in October 2012.
His mother Sharon Ayres told MailOnline: 'How can anybody sell these product as a dietary aid after the deaths of Sean and all the other young people?
'And to hear that this company is prepared to help forge documents to smuggle this stuff into the country is disgraceful. They are no better than drug dealers.'
Bodybuilder Sean Cleathero, 28, (pictured left) drank a dissolved a sachet of DNP as part of a fitness and weight-loss plan. He was rushed to hospital when he struggled to breathe. Sarmad Alladin, 18, (pictured right) was a fitness fanatic who died after taking it in February 2013
Fitness fanatic Sarmad Alladin, 18, died after taking DNP in February 2013.
The Epsom University student had bought the 'fat burner' tablets over the internet but dialed 999 at 3.25am when his temperature spiked and he suffered stomach pain.
Sarmad, who had posted snaps of his new muscles online, was taken to hospital just hours after praising the fat-burning tablets DNP on Facebook.
The teenager had made body building 'the main aim in his life' and he dreamed of playing international rugby.
Mr Alladin, an international student and son of an Indian millionaire, called an ambulance as he suddenly collapsed.
Leeds University student Sarah Houston, 23, died after secretly taking DNP along with a prescribed anti-depressant. Sarah was studying to be a doctor. She had struggled with anorexia and bulimia since she was 14.
The night before she died she took cold showers to try to cool down.
She was found dead in her bedroom by a flatmate the day after refusing to call an ambulance when she felt hot and unwell.
Selena Walrond, 26, who was desperate to lose weight, died in agony after taking DNP.
Miss Walrond, who weighed 15st and was 5ft 3in tall, became ashamed of her body shape and was afraid to leave her home in Croydon, south London.
She was rushed to hospital in August 2007 but died in terrible pain from toxic poisoning.
Selena Walrond, (pictured left), 26, from Croydon, south London, died of a heart attack in 2008 after poisoning herself with a large amount of unlicensed slimming pills she had bought online. Sarah Houston, 23, a student doctor, had complained of feeling hot and unwell and had been breathing heavily on the evening of her death
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Authority [MHRA] in the UK has no power to prevent its use as a drug because it is not a pharmaceutical.
Theoretically, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) can take action if DNP is sold for human consumption.
But lax laws mean the British market is wide open to predatory DNP factories based in China – only a click away selling the toxic pills on the internet for as little 70p each.
Obesity expert Dr Sally Norton warned young people not to be tempted by the deadly drug.
She said: 'Buying diet-pills on the internet means you have no idea what they really contain and whether they could interact with drugs you may already be taking or make an existing health problem worse. DNP is a toxic chemical declared unfit for human consumption by the Food Standards Agency.
'Ingesting this poison can lead to nausea, vomiting, restlessness, flushed skin, sweating, dizziness, headaches, rapid respiration and irregular heart-beat, possibly leading to coma and death.
'Despite this, it appears that these drugs are being made in clandestine laboratories before being marketed to vulnerable people, desperate for that miracle solution to their - often largely imaginary - weight problem.
'So, don't play with your health. Yes, being overweight may be a risk - but don't swap that risk for a diet-pill that may be a lot worse for you and probably doesn't work anyway.
'And, as soon as that miracle diet-pill, that actually leads to safe and significant weight-loss, becomes available, you will be the first to know.'
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