Diet pill death ‘a first for Ireland’

A young man in his 20s has died after taking deadly dieting pills bought online — in what an expert has said is the first loss of its kind here.

The man died in mid-May, just weeks after the State’s medical watchdog issued a public warning about potentially lethal slimming products. He took tablets containing the highly toxic substance dinitrophenol (DNP), which is commonly used in diet pills.

The Health Products Regulatory Authority issued an alert on April 21 after a young woman died in Britain after taking DNP. The substance can accelerate the body’s metabolism to an alarmingly high level, triggering potentially dangerous side effects.

Both the gardaí and the HPRA have begun investigations into the supply of the DNP product and events surrounding the death of the man. The HPRA said it had only recently been alerted by a doctor about the man’s death.

Since the start of this year, the HPRA has seized 93 slimming tablets from mail order packages. It has again emphasised that products containing DNP are not fit for human consumption and can cause serious harm.

Long-term use can damage the heart and nervous system and there is evidence from animal studies DNP causes cancer and increases the risk of birth defects.

On April 12 last, Eloise Aimee Parry, aged 21, from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, died after taking DNP. Her mother, Fiona, said two tablets were a lethal dose and her daughter had accidentally taken eight and had not intended to take her own life: “She just never really understood how dangerous the tablets that she took were.”

It is understood the family of the dead man are helping gardaí and the HPRA with their investigations.

HPRA chief executive Pat O’Mahony said information they had indicated the young man consumed DNP. He said people should never use the internet to buy diet products or prescription medicines as no amount of these products was safe to take.

“Laboratory analysis of products detained in the past has shown that medicines being sold through illicit websites will often contain too little or too much of the active ingredient or may contain undeclared and harmful substances.”

Members of the public can contact the medicines authority in confidence by emailing [e-mail] or by phone on 01 6343436. The HPRA has a leaflet entitled Dangers of Buying Medicines Online on its website, www.hpra.ie