Dying to be thin is society’s biggest shame

DINITROPHENOL, according to government scientists, is “an industrial drug” which can be “extremely dangerous to human health”, writes Suzanne Harrington. 

It’s found in pesticides, herbicides, antiseptics, sulphur dyes and wood preservatives. And more recently, in the body of a dead 21-year-old. Not because she was suicidal, but because she wanted to be thin.

Eloise Parry sent a text to her university tutor while she was in A&E, apologising for her impending death: “I’m so scared. I’m so sorry for being so stupid.” She knew she was going to die, because her symptoms hours before her death were consistent with fatal overdose of DNP; she had researched the drug prior to using it, and decided that it was probably not as dangerous as she had been warned. She was wrong. She died because she wanted to be thin.