THE dad of a woman who died after taking a deadly ‘diet drug’ has accused the Home Office of systematic failures in the fight to control the everyday availability of the substance.
Doug Shipsey is angry after he was told by representatives of Worcester MP Robin Walker that the Home Office does not believe that anything more can be done on a ministerial level to help his campaign.
The father-of-two, from Warndon Villages, believes the Home Office is dragging its heels and is now ignoring him after meetings in which he was promised certain actions would be taken to stamp out the industrial chemical 2,4 Dinitrophenol (DNP).
Beth Shipsey, 21, suffered a cardiac arrest in February 2017 after taking the substance, often used as a slimming agent but which is actually a lethal poison and classified as an explosive under UN regulations.
READ MORE: Worcester dad meets dealer ‘whose pills killed his daughter’
Mr Shipsey believes a license should be required to acquire or keep DNP.
He said: “The Home Office have failed to apply appropriate and effective controls of DNP as an explosive, a precursor and a poison, either under existing legislation i.e. the Explosives Act 2014 or as ‘Controlled and Reportable substances’ under the EEPP listings, in the same way as TNT and Sulphuric Acid.”
Mr Shipsey, 53, claims the Home Office has stopped replying to his emails in which he has asked for a summary of the actions completed since he met with department officials in December last year.
“Save for the involvement that led to an NHS alert which was in any event several years overdue, this is utterly pathetic,” he said in an email the department on Friday.
A caseworker for Mr Walker had sent Mr Shipsey an email on October 7 detailing notes taken following a phone call with Home Office drugs representative Marcus Starling.
In that call it was apparently said the department is working with the Food Standards Agency, Public Health England and the World Anti-Doping Agency to ensure there is more awareness surrounding the dangers of DNP and ensuring sellers are buried in online searches.
But he added that he did not believe “anything more” could be done ministerially.
Mr Walker’s office confirmed it would be writing to Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability, Victoria Atkins MP regarding the issue.
The Home Office did not provide a response before we went to print.
Mr Walker was unavailable.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel