Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2023 to Question 136690 on Dinitrophenol, what information her Department holds on any previous legal uses of 2,4-dinitrophenol, including when they ceased.

No specific research has been commissioned by the Home Office to investigate ways in which 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) has been used legitimately in Great Britain in the past.

From discussions with stakeholders and from open-source research on DNP, the Home Office is aware that DNP had historically been legally used as a treatment for weight-loss before being declared unfit for human consumption in 19381. Information available online also suggests that DNP has had industrial uses as a fertiliser before the Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 1952 was introduced to regulate its use2. Media reporting on DNP has also listed previous industrial uses in pesticides and industrial dyes, though the Home Office has no further information on the use of DNP for these purposes.

In 2022, responses to the public consultation on amendments to the Poisons Act did not indicate that any members of the public who responded to the consultation used DNP for any legitimate purposes.

1Public Health England, 2013 - PHE supports FSA warnings over deadly weight loss supplement - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

2Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 2952 - Agriculture (Poisonous Substances) Act 1952 (legislation.gov.uk)