1: J Anal Toxicol. 2006 Apr;30(3):219-22.
Two deaths attributed to the use of 2,4-dinitrophenol.
Miranda EJ, McIntyre IM, Parker DR, Gary RD, Logan BK.
Washington State Toxicology Laboratory, Washington State Patrol, 2203 Airport Way
South, Seattle, Washington 98134, USA.
We report the cases of two individuals, one in Tacoma, WA, and the second in San Diego, CA, whose deaths were attributed to ingestion of 2,4-dinitrophenol(2,4-DNP). 2,4-DNP has historically been used as a herbicide and fungicide. By uncoupling mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, the drug causes a marked increase in fat metabolism that has led to its use to aid weight loss. Both cases reported here involved its use for this purpose. Features common to both cases included markedly elevated body temperature, rapid pulse and respiration, yellow coloring of the viscera at autopsy, history of use of weight loss or bodybuilding supplements, and presence of a yellow powder at the decedent’s residence.
Because of its acidic nature, the drug is not detected in the basic
drug fraction of most analytical protocols, but it is recovered in the
acid/neutral fraction of biological extracts and can be measured by
high-performance liquid chromatography or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The concentration of 2,4-DNP in the admission blood samples of the two deaths reported here were 36.1 and 28 mg/L, respectively. Death in both cases was attributed to 2,4-DNP toxicity. Review of information available on the internet suggests that, although banned, 2,4-DNP is still illicitly promoted for weight loss.
1: Regul Toxicol Pharmacol. 2007 Jul;48(2):115-7. Epub 2007 Mar 31.
Dinitrophenol and obesity: an early twentieth-century regulatory dilemma.
Colman E.
Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products, Office of Drug Evaluation II,
Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, 10903
New Hampshire Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20993, USA. eric.colman@fda.hhs.gov
In the early 1930s, the industrial chemical dinitrophenol found widespread favor as a weight-loss drug, due principally to the work of Maurice Tainter, a clinical pharmacologist from Stanford University. Unfortunately the compound’s therapeutic index was razor thin and [b] it was not until thousands of people suffered irreversible harm [/b]that mainstream physicians realized that dinitrophenol’s risks outweighed its benefits and abandoned its use. Yet, it took passage of the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act in 1938 before federal regulators had the ability to stop patent medicine men from selling dinitrophenol to Americans lured by the promise of a drug that would safely melt one’s fat away.