article_snippet.sent: Here, Dr Simon Cotton, a senior lecturer in chemistry at the University of Birmingham, explains how DNP came to be used as a diet pill, and why a diet pill the chemical is so dangerous… .
article_snippet.sent: During World War I, DNP was sometimes used to fill armour-piercing shells, as a mixture with picric acid, known as Shellite or Tridite.
article_snippet.sent: The commercial use of DNP is as a pesticide or herbicide and, in 2009, 11 workers in a Chinese chemical factory – plus nine of their relatives – contracted DNP poisoning, 11 workers in a Chinese chemical factory – plus nine of their relatives skins turned yellow or even black and two died.
article_snippet.sent: After World War I, scientists at Stanford University investigated DNP to see if scientists at Stanford University was a useful slimming aid.
article_snippet.sent: DNP was banned in the United States under the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act of 1938; the US Food and Drug Administration said that DNP was too toxic to be used under any circumstance.
article_snippet.sent: DNP went underground for years, but DNP was again marketed in the 1980s as a "weight-loss without dieting" drug – and, more recently, the internet has given DNP a wider circulation, describing DNP as a "safe weight-loss drug".
article_snippet.sent: How DNP works was discovered in 1948.
article_snippet.sent: Scientists warn DNP is highly toxic.
article_snippet.sent: DNP was originally used in weapons in World War 1 and is used commercially as a pesticide .
article_snippet.sent: In 2004 the UK Food Standards Agency advised consumers not to take any product containing DNP at any level: "This chemical is not suitable for human consumption.
highlights_snippet.sent: DNP was a chemical used in weapons in WW1 and was found to be toxic .
  
highlights_snippet.sent: DNP was also commercially used as a pesticide and poisoned workers .
  Was banned as a diet pill after scientists discovered DNP risky side effects .
  