Quick fixes that come at a price

Quick fixes that come at a price

JANUARY 2012

Despite being warned by her doctor not to buy dubious weight-loss pills online, Grace Yu Jing Ni continued to do so.

And she paid for it with her life.

The 24-year-old suffered chest pains after swallowing the capsules, bought online for $335 through a Ukrainian seller.

She was taken to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she later died of dinitrophenol (DNP) poisoning.

DNP, which causes rapid loss of weight but has adverse side effects, is banned here.

JUNE 2002

Logistics executive Selvarani Raja, 43, made no secret of her taking of slimming pills.

Convinced by an advertisement that actress Chen Liping had slimmed down after consuming Slim 10, she bought and took the drug, which contained fenfluramine and nicotinamide.

Her liver became inflamed and more than 80 per cent of its cells died from substances which were extremely toxic to the liver.

Her death in June 2002 was the only death in Singapore linked to Slim 10, the made-in-China weight loss drug.

MAY 2002

A 30-second TV advertisement for Slim 10 featuring colleague Chen convinced actress Andrea De Cruz to try the weight-loss herbal pills.

She ordered three batches. But before she could collect the third batch, she was warded for severe hepatitis.

Ms De Cruz suffered liver failure after taking the drug and her then fiance, actor Pierre Png, saved her life by donating part of his liver for a transplant


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