Medical student, 23, who had battled bulimia for three years died after buying toxic slimming drug online

A coroner today called for a clampdown on unscrupulous internet dealers after a medical student battling bulimia died while taking a banned and dangerous weight loss drug.
Doctor’s daughter Sarah Houston, 23, had bought DNP - a slimming aid popular with bodybuilders which has been linked to 62 deaths worldwide - and had been taking it along with an prescription anti-depressant.
The combination of the drugs, which both boost the body’s metabolism, may have proved fatal, the inquest was told.

Sarah Houston, 23, had complained of feeling hot and unwell and had been breathing heavily on the evening of her death

She was found dead in her bedroom by a flatmate the day after refusing to call an ambulance when she felt hot and unwell.
Although banned for human consumption, the toxic substance is not illegal as it is used as a chemical pesticide and is easily available on-line.
But in recording a misadventure verdict, coroner David Hinchliff criticised manufacturers for knowing any capsules would be bought by ‘people using it as a drug’ and said he will recommend a change in the law.
The dead woman’s family - who are all qualified doctors - also pledged to lobby the government to make DNP illegal.

Her father Geoff Houston, 55, said: ‘For those who are selling it, if you have any ounce of decency you must stop.

THE DEADLY DANGERS OF DNP

DNP is sold as a weight loss aid, but has been described as 'extremely dangerous to human health' by doctors.
It is sold mostly over the internet under a number of different names but contains 2, 4-Dinitrophenol.
It is marketed mainly to bodybuilders as a weight loss aid as it is thought to dramatically boost metabolism.
The manufactured drug is yellow and odourless and was previously used as a herbicide and fungicide. It was launched as a slimming aid in the U.S. in the 1930s but then banned in 1938, due to the severe side-effects.
Depending on the amount consumed, signs of acute poisoning could include nausea, vomiting, restlessness, flushed skin, sweating, dizziness, headaches, rapid respiration and irregular heart-beat, possibly leading to coma and death.

‘The world has lost a bright, bubbly person who would have gone on to making people’s lives better. Sarah loved life and was passionate about helping others less fortunate than herself.’
Investigations after her death last September indicated Miss Houston had taken 38 capsules from a packet of 100 of Dinitrophenol (DNP) and the drug was detected in her blood.
There was no evidence of an overdose and she was not suicidal, the hearing at Wakefield was told.
She had been seeing a psychiatrist for her eating disorder for three years and had improved so much that the sessions were expected to come to an end soon and she was no longer officially bulimic.
The evening before she died Miss Houston, a student at the University of Leeds, was breathing heavily, had yellow eyes and had two cold showers to try and cool herself down after complaining of feeling unwell.
She was encouraged to call an ambulance by her flatmate, but insisted the symptoms would pass and it wasn’t unusual for her to feel like that.
Miss Houston texted a friend the next day but was found later by another flatmate and paramedics called to the address in Leeds pronounced her dead at 5.15pm.
Toxicologist Matthew Wade said of DNP: ‘Because it is a banned substance, we don’t really know what would be a safe level to have in the body. The drug affects different people in different ways.
‘We have heard of several deaths caused by DNP and we know that whatever the dose, it can be life-threatening. It is not intended for human consumption and it is a poisonous substance. It therefore seems likely DNP consumption caused Sarah’s death.’
Dr Graham Mould, a forensic toxicologist, said taking DNP with the anti-depressant Fluoxetine - also known by the trade name Prozac - may have proved fatal as the effects could have been ‘exacerbated.’ He said: ‘We don’t know how long Sarah had been taking DNP but it may have accumulated in her system. It increases the body’s metabolic rate.
‘The side effects can be overheating and breathlessness caused by an increased heart rate and this seems to be consistent with how Sarah was feeling that evening.
‘At a very high dose Fluoxetine can have a similar affect to DNP and so one can speculate that the two drugs together might have speeded up the affect.’
Psychiatrist Dr John Morgan said Miss Houston ‘made no secret of her bulimia.’ ‘Her drive to lose weight was always there and she was fearful of weight gain.
She was most likely taking DNP to satisfy her own need to control her weight,’ he said. ‘Sarah was a healthy weight, with a body mass index of 23, and no one knew she had been taking the drug alongside her prescribed antidepressants.’
The medical student had previously been ‘binging’ twice daily and ‘purging’ eight times a day, but this has been reduced to an average of once a fortnight.
‘She felt like she had the knowledge to combat her eating disorder,’ he added.
The coroner said he hoped there would be a ‘campaign’ to get substances such as DNP controlled by law.

'Body Image Distortion': Sarah had been battling bulimia but was responding well to medical treatment

Sarah 'unfairly compared self' to other people but psychiatrist of three years said her state of mind 'had improved significantly'

He said he did not believe Miss Houston intended to harm herself and ‘entirely’ blamed DNP for her death.
‘The only motive for manufacturing a toxic substance as a slimming aid would be to profit from people who have the misfortune of having a condition such as Sarah’s,’ he said.
‘Anyone who professionally manufactures capsules to be taken as a drug have the intention of people using it as a drug. Sarah’s death is a consequence of that.’
Miss Houston’s father, mother Gina, 55, sister Vicky, 27, and brother James, 29, are all doctors from Chesham Bois, Bucks.
The family said after the hearing they wanted to make people aware of the drug’s dangers ‘so no other family suffer in this way.’

They said in a statement: ‘It seems incomprehensible to us that such a toxic substance can be available in tablet form to be sold in the UK for human consumption across the internet.
‘It is perhaps only through her death that the strongest message can come out.
‘If anything can be learned from Sarah’s death then that might help little bit in alleviating her loss.’
Police believe the capsules were imported from Spain.

Selena Walrond, 26, (left) died from a heart attack in 2008 after taking a large amount of DNP (right) that she had bought online. Sean Cleathero, 28, (right) is believed to have taken DNP after acquiring it at a local gym. He died shortly afterwards last October

Detective Constable Kate Lonsdale said: ‘The website does flag up that the product is not for human consumption but by selling it in tablet form, they are knowing full well that it is going to be used for weight loss.
‘It will be difficult to ban it outright because it is still legitimately used as an effective pesticide. The way to control consumption is through education.’
DNP was linked to 62 deaths in a study published last year in the Journal of Medical Toxicity.
The study authors from the Whittington Hospital in London, wrote: 'DNP is reported to cause rapid loss of weight, but unfortunately is associated with an unacceptably high rate of significant adverse effects.'
The stark warning follows the death of a father who took the drug which he got at his local fitness centre.

Sean Cleathero is believed to have taken the substance after acquiring it at a local gym.

The 28-year-old from High Wycombe was taken ill shortly afterwards and died at Wycombe Hospital on October 17.
And in 2008, Selena Walrond from Croydon, south London, died after taking DNP she had purchased online.
The yellow pills had sent her heart-rate racing and temperature soaring. She was found by her mother Anjennis trying to cool down the next day.

She was taken to hospital but died eight hours later from a heart attack.
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