the right chemistry: deadly 'diet drug' continues to take a toll
dinitrophenol isn't fit for human consumption, but it's sold on the internet to dieters and body builders looking to shed pounds quickly.
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one reporter dubbed it “the american chamber of horrors.” while there was no actual chamber, there were indeed horrors for the public to see. all they had to do was peruse a travelling exhibit organized by the u.s. food and drug administration in 1933. the display featured products that had the potential to harm consumers yet were out of reach of the pure food and drug act of 1906. that act had made misleading claims on labels unlawful, but did not address claims made in advertisements and did not cover cosmetics. such products as “koremlu” that claimed to eliminate unwanted hair, “banbar,” which was offered as an alternative to insulin, and “nuxated iron” with a promise “to invigorate, rejuvenate, and enhance athletic performance” were readily available to the public. these contained, respectively, highly toxic thallium acetate, a worthless extract of the weed horsetail and strychnine from the seeds of the nux vomica tree. something had to be done. under the direction of ruth deforest lamb, the fda’s chief education officer, and chief inspector george larrick, the agency mounted an exhibition of some 100 dangerous products that managed to garner extensive media attention when it was presented at the 1933 chicago world’s fair. the message was that the 1906 act had to be updated because it did not give fda the authority to protect the public from deceptive products that were worthless and often toxic.
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one of the most dangerous pharmaceuticals targeted by the fda exhibit was dinitrophenol, claimed to accelerate metabolism and produce rapid weight loss. the claim was actually valid, but by the 1930s scientists had discovered that dinitrophenol causes cataracts, low white blood cell counts and a potentially lethal elevation in body temperature. yet the fda was powerless to act because dinitrophenol was sold as a cosmetic and was therefore outside the scope of the 1906 law.
the story of dinitrophenol as a weight-reducing substance begins with italian chemist ascanio sobrero’s 1847 discovery that reacting glycerine with nitric acid produces the high explosive, nitroglycerine. this stimulated researchers to investigate nitrating other compounds, and as a result, trinitrotoluene (tnt) and dinitrophenol were produced and found to be useful by the military as explosives in artillery shells. during the first world war, a number of workers in french munitions factories where such shells were produced began to experience weakness, dizziness, excessive sweating and weight loss.
it was the weight loss that intrigued stanford university clinical pharmacologist maurice tainter, who wondered about the potential use of dinitrophenol as a weight control drug. indeed, he found that it increased metabolism and led to weight loss without dieting. his published findings were seized upon by devious marketers who unleashed a cascade of products with names such as nitroment, nitraphen, and redusol with claims of quick, safe, weight loss without dieting. there was weight loss, but it certainly wasn’t safe. before long, there were reports of cataracts, rashes, nausea, convulsions, liver failure and deaths. these dangers were highlighted in the “chamber of horrors” display and were a factor in u.s. president franklin roosevelt signing the federal food, drug and cosmetic act of 1938. finally, the fda was given the power to remove dangerous substances from the marketplace, with one of these being dinitrophenol.
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after the second world war, the compound briefly made it into newspapers again with stories about soviet soldiers using it to keep warm. this had actually been reported in soviet medical journals and came to the attention of nicholas bachynsky, who was translating these journals for the u.s. government. just like tainter had discovered, the russians found that dinitrophenol increased metabolism and causes the body’s temperature to rise.
the mechanism by which dinitrophenol produces its effects began to be unravelled in the late 1940s. the drug interferes with the body’s production of adenosine triphosphate (atp) from carbohydrates and fats. it is the dissociation of atp into adp (adenosine diphosphate) that produces the energy needed by all living cells. to counter the lack of atp, the body revs up its metabolic rate to try to convert more fats into energy. that does lead to weight loss, but also to the production of excessive heat and potentially fatal hyperthermia.
bachynsky recognized the profit potential of a weight-reducing drug. although the fda had banned the commercial sale of the drug, he evidently thought he could skirt the law by selling it through his private clinic. he purchased industrial dinitrophenol, produced for use in dyes, wood preservatives and pesticides and processed it into tablets that he began to dispense in 1981 under the name “mitcal.” patients were soon reporting a number of adverse reactions to the fda, resulting in an injunction barring bachynsky from selling the drug, which he ignored. charges were brought, including insurance fraud, and the doctor ended up in prison. here he met another inmate, with whom he hatched an ever more troubling scheme.
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upon his release, bachynsky promoted dinitrophenol as a cancer treatment that would heat up and destroy cancer cells. he enlisted investors in helvetia pharmaceuticals, a company he established to develop “intracellular hyperthermia therapy” for cancer. investors lost their money and discovered that clinical trials had been falsified and the investments had been used to fund bachynsky’s lifestyle. a criminal investigation followed and in 2008 bachynsky was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 14 years in prison.
bachynsky has not been the sole culprit when it comes to sales of dinitrophenol. it is available through multiple internet sites where promoters protect themselves by labelling their product as “not for human consumption.” nevertheless, fatalities among body builders and dieters looking to quickly shed pounds are being reported, about 1,500 since 2007 in the united kingdom alone. if the “chamber of horrors” were updated, dinitrophenol would still occupy a prominent place in the display.
joe schwarcz is director of mcgill university’s office for science & society (mcgill.ca/oss). he hosts the dr. joe show on cjad radio 800 am every sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.
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