Letter to the Minister for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability: advice on 2,4-Dinitrophenol (accessible version)
Published 18 February 2019
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Victoria Atkins MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Crime, Safeguarding and Vulnerability
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
18 February 2019
Dear Minister
RE: 2,4-Dinitrophenol
Thank you for your letter of 3 January 2019 which sought the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs’ (ACMD) views on the appropriate control mechanism for 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP).
The ACMD has carefully considered this issue including whether 2,4-DNP has the potential to cause psychoactive effects. Our view is that 2,4-DNP is a poison and not a drug and has no therapeutic indication. At present, there is no conclusive scientific evidence to indicate that 2,4-DNP is psychoactive or that it is being misused with the intention of producing psychoactive effects. As such, it would not be appropriate to control 2,4-DNP under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
The ACMD recognises this is a complicated issue. We would suggest that the different policy teams involved across government work together with poisons experts to find a collective solution to DNP-related poisonings.
Yours sincerely
Dr Owen Bowden-Jones, Chair of the ACMD