Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any legitimate uses of 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) were identified during her Department's consultation on adding DNP to the poisons list.

Between December 2021 – March 2022, the Home Office ran a public consultation on potential amendments to the Poisons Act 1972. The consultation proposed a number of measures, including a proposal to add 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) and its derivatives including sodium dinitrophenolate as a regulated poison under the Act. Responses were submitted through an online survey on gov.uk, by email and by post.

In total 128 responses were collected in the consultation. Of these responses, zero responses were received indicating the use of 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) or derivatives including sodium dinitrophenolate. As no responses were received indicating members of the public were using DNP for legitimate purposes, it was considered proportionate to proceed with regulating DNP as a poison under the Poisons Act.

The Government response to the public consultation can be found at Annex A of the Impact Assessment for the Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023, available online here: The Control of Explosives Precursors and Poisons Regulations 2023 (legislation.gov.uk).