- Sarah Houston took DNP, an industrial chemical popular with bodybuilders
- Had complained of temperature and breathlessness on night before death
- Had been seeing psychiatrist for past three years to help battle bulimia
- Was taking weight-loss drug secretly in conjunction with anti-depressants
- Coroner: ‘Not a one-off case and needs bringing to the public’s attention’
- Family say they plan campaign to raise awareness of drug
By
Chris Brooke
10:09 EST, 22 April 2013
|
03:53 EST, 23 April 2013
She was a healthy medical student whose parents, brother and sister were all doctors.
But – obsessed with her weight – Sarah Houston, 23, was secretly taking a banned and dangerous slimming pill.
And just when she told her psychiatrist her bulimia was finally under control, the drug, which is linked to 62 deaths worldwide, claimed her life too.
Although banned for human consumption, DNP is easily available online – in capsule form – because it is also a pesticide.
Sarah Houston, 23, had complained of feeling hot and unwell and had been breathing heavily on the evening of her death
At her inquest yesterday, coroner David Hinchliff said it was ‘entirely’ responsible for Miss Houston’s death.
Demanding a crackdown on the sale of the capsules, he said manufacturers knew they were bought for weight control.
‘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 has the intention of people
using it as a drug. Sarah’s death is a consequence of that.’
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.
Miss Houston had taken DNP along with
a prescription anti-depressant.
The combination of the two drugs, which
both boost the metabolism, 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.
Her family, who are all qualified doctors, pledged to lobby
the Government to make DNP illegal.
Her father Geoff, 55, said: ‘For those who are selling it, if you have any ounce of decency you must stop.
‘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.
‘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’
Geoff and Gina Houston, the parents of Sarah Houston, outside Wakefield Coroner’s Court yesterday
‘At a very high dose Fluoxetine can
have a similar effect to DNP and so one can speculate that the two drugs
together might have speeded up the effect.’
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 anti-depressants.’
The medical student had previously
been ‘bingeing’ twice daily and ‘purging’ eight times a day, but this
was reduced to an average of once a fortnight. ‘She felt like she had
the knowledge to combat her eating disorder,’ he added.
Miss Houston’s father, mother Gina, 55, sister Vicky, 27, and brother James, 29, are all doctors from Chesham Bois, Bucks.
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
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 learnt from Sarah’s death then that might help little bit in alleviating her loss.’
Police believe the capsules were imported from Spain.
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.’
Recording a verdict of misadventure,
Mr Hinchliff said he hoped there would be a ‘campaign’ to get substances
such as DNP controlled by law.
He said he did not believe Miss Houston
intended to harm herself.
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Nobody should buy medications over the Internet,not even vitamins. It seems there are no legal controls.
Julia
,
London,
23/4/2013 12:55
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“May the peace which comes from the memories of love and laughter you shared bring you all comfort, now and in the days ahead†A beautiful life cut so so tragically short. Rest in Peace in Paradise Sarah.
MARY
,
UK, United Kingdom,
23/4/2013 12:41
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Such a shame someone so gorgeous feels that way. Tragic. R.I.P x
Tom1990
,
Wigan, United Kingdom,
23/4/2013 12:37
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Such a beautiful girl, such a waste. RIP.
Legohead
,
Chesterfield,
23/4/2013 12:36
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This is truly heartbreaking. Beautiful, does not even begin to describe Sarah. I hope her parents can find comfort in the fact that their baby is in a far better place now.
Burt
,
USA,
23/4/2013 12:14
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Such a bonnie lass-what a crying shame. My heart goes out to her and her parents who must be devastated.
Bah Humbug
,
Humbug Scrub SA, Australia,
23/4/2013 11:06
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What a beautiful girl. So sad.
amrnewkight
,
uk, Palestine,
23/4/2013 10:54
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I’m so sorry for the girl.
Vanilla
,
Somewhere In The Mists, Lithuania,
23/4/2013 10:49
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She was soooo slim and pretty, how could she not see it ?
Absolutegirl69
,
Sunningdale,
23/4/2013 10:39
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God must be in desparate need off angels, to let this happen. The people that sell drugs that cause someones death should be held accountable.
D Walmsley
,
Leeds,
23/4/2013 10:37
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