UK chemical warning

A bodybuilder in Finland needed hospital treatment after buying capsules containing a dangerous chemical from an Internet website believed to be based in the UK, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said today.

Officials in Finland raised the alarm after the bodybuilder was found to have taken ``fat burner`` capsules containing DNP.

The industrial chemical is banned from use in products designed for human consumption but there are fears it may be illegally included in some products, particularly those bought over the Internet.

Taking as few as three or four capsules containing DNP in one dose can be fatal although smaller amounts of the chemical over a longer period was also known to have serious health effects, such as cataracts, the FSA said.

The agency repeated its advice to consumers not to take any products containing DNP - which may also be labelled 2,4-Dinitrophenol - at any level.