Dietary Supplement Raids

The Guardian: U.K. sellers of deadly pesticide for weight loss unmasked in California lawsuit

The Guardian’s top health reporter published an exclusive, three-part package on a raid by British Food Standard’s Agency on the European operation of a Sacramento-based supplement company facing a lawsuit from Tauler Smith for selling the chemical DNP (2,4-dinitrophenol) for human consumption.

Excerpt: “The substance heats up the body’s metabolism, burning fat, but it can cause drastic overheating. Its victims’ organs literally cook inside the body. Once taken, there is no antidote…”

“DNP is basically pesticide coming out of a smoke stack and these folks are ingesting it and losing weight because their body is trying to get rid of it. It is ingested poison,” Robert Tauler told The Guardian.

The stories appeared in both the U.S. and U.K. versions of theguardian.com, as well as in print.