The parents of a medical student killed by a banned slimming pill said yesterday she had been the happiest they had ever known.
Geoff and Gina Houston said their daughter Sarah, 23, was beginning to conquer the eating disorders which had afflicted her for years. The fourth-year medical student, was about to be discharged by her psychiatrist after three years, they said.
Today David Cameron promised to investigate what more can be done to warn people about the dangers of the slimming pills.
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Sarah Houston's family, who are all qualified doctors, pledged to lobby the Government to make DNP illegal after their daughter died after taking the drug
Tragedy: Sarah's Parents Geoff and Gina Houston said their daughter Sarah, 23, was beginning to conquer the eating disorders which had afflicted her for years before her death
Mr Houston, 55, who along with his wife, son James, 29, and second daughter Vicky, 27, is a doctor, said Miss Houston is thought to have taken the drug DNP for about 18 months.
At his rural home, he said: ‘She wasn’t depressed. She was the happiest we had known her. It was a complete shock to us. It’s a tragedy that no parent should have to go through.’
Miss Houston had been secretly taking capsules of the drug, which is banned for human consumption but available online as it is used as a pesticide. It has been linked to 62 deaths worldwide.
VIDEO Parents of Sarah Houston interviewed on Daybreak
Nobody knew why Sarah died at first
In private: Miss Houston had been secretly taking DNP capsules, which is banned for human consumption but available online
Fun-loving: 23-year-old Sarah, from Buckinghamshire, pictured having fun in India during a 2010 trip
Games: The medical student plays in the street with local children in Guatamala during a visit in July 2012
Shame: Sarah was a beautiful, bright young woman, but always 'suffered from her image, her mother said
On Monday, coroner David Hinchliff told an inquest it was ‘entirely’ responsible for her death last September when she collapsed in her room at the University of Leeds.
Mr Houston, of Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire, who is now a lay minister, said it may have only been a single pill which killed her. ‘Nobody knew she was taking it, not even her flatmates,’ he said. ‘It would be posted to her university address in a brown paper bag.’
On the anorexia and bulimia which affected her from the age of 14, he added: ‘There was light at the end of the tunnel in terms of her wanting to get better. She was a great fighter against this and she had made a lot of progress.’
‘She was the happiest she had ever been. She was a bright medical student in her fourth year and loving it.’
His wife, 55, a retired pharmacologist, called for manufacturers to stop producing DNP, which boosts metabolism, as capsules.
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‘Why are people selling it in capsule form, if they are not expecting people to take it as a dietary aid?’ she said.
Mantra: Sarah kept this handwritten note next to her bed at home
The medical student was found dead in her bedroom by a flatmate the day after refusing to call an ambulance when she felt hot and unwell
THE DEADLY DANGERS OF DNP
DNP (pictured right) 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.
‘If it is only sold in liquid form, you could use it in industry but you could not use it as a dieting aid.
‘I’m sure that Sarah would not have taken it if it had not been sold as capsules.’ Mr Houston said: ‘It is morally repugnant to package it in capsules. If there is an ounce of moral integrity, then these people selling it should stop immediately.’
The coroner also demanded a crackdown, saying manufacturers knew the capsules were being bought for weight control.
Miss Houston was a confident and popular young woman with a strong Christian faith who did well at the local grammar school.
Her mother added: ‘She was a normal, healthy weight. She was a beautiful girl and popular with the boys. But she always suffered from her image.
‘This generation are under a lot of pressure, with the fashion models, the images you see in the press.
‘She was very bright and bubbly, she had lots of friends. They were all aware of her condition. It wasn’t a secret, it was a part of her.’
A post-it note above Miss Houston’s bed read: ‘If you cannot do great things, do small things in a great way.’ Her mother said: ‘That perfectly sums Sarah up.’
The Prime Minister was urged to act on the dangers in the Commons today.
Tory MP Caroline Nokes tolld Mr Cameron: '62 people have died using DNP - a highly toxic herbicide banned for use as a slimming drug but easily available online alongside other dubious slimming products.
'What commitment can you give that you will work across Government to make sure that this trade is stopped and in so doing help to prevent the deaths of more young people?'
Prime Minister David Cameron said he would see if more can be done to warn people of the dangers
The Prime Minister replied: 'Like many people I read the tragic case of the girl who died from taking this substance and one can only think of the heartache her family and other families go through when things like this happen.
'I will very carefully look at what you say. This isn't an easy issue because of course the substance is banned as a slimming drug but as I understand it it is legal as a herbicide.'And so we have to look carefully as she says across Government about what more we can do to warn people about these things.'