'It's so hard to escape': Mum of diet pills victim Eloise Parry on body image pressure
"The pressure wasn't there when I was growing up like it is now. It's on your phone and it's everywhere, all the time. It's so much harder to escape. It's much easier to be pressured into doing something you will regret."
Those are the words of the mother of Eloise Parry, a 21-year-old woman who lost her life after taking toxic slimming pills.
It will be seven years in April since Eloise's death. The vulnerable young woman, who suffered with bulimia, took tablets she bought online containing DNP, a chemical used in First World War explosives.
Eloise, from Shrewsbury, suffered what was described in court as "a most distressing death". She was a talented student at Glyndwr University in Wrexham, with her whole life ahead of her. For Eloise's mum Fiona, the pain is still there.
"It was seven years ago," she said. "It's a long time ago. I still find it difficult to talk about. If I'm not prepared I do get choked up."
Eloise was not the first and certainly won't be the last young person to feel the pressure to look a certain way. Photoshopped images of surgically enhanced celebrities and reality stars constantly shared on social media feeds have given young people unrealistic expectations on how they should look, and the lengths they should go to as they try and get there.
Fiona believes more tough conversations need to be had and stronger efforts need to be made to make youngsters realise that they are enough, and don't need to strive to look "perfect".
"It's a very difficult situation for young people now," she said. "The pressure wasn't there when I was growing up like it is now. It's on your phone and it's everywhere, all the time. It's so much harder to escape. It's much easier to be pressured into doing something you will regret.
"It's an uphill battle we're facing at the moment. There is a lot of good stuff out there about body positivity, but it's still something we've got a long way to go with. It's really hard to resist the pressure to look and dress a certain way. I understand that young people want to fit in. It is so hard for them."
Positive news has emerged that DNP, the deadly drug which Eloise took, could be reclassified as poison. The Home Office has begun consultation on whether the drug should be reclassified, following pressure from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
It comes after five years of campaigning from another parent who lost a child to the drug. Bethany Shipsey, who was also 21, died in 2017 after taking tablets containing the chemical. Her father Doug Shipsey, from Worcester, has been fighting for the drug to be declared poison again.
DNP, or 2,4-dinitrophenol, was classified as a poison until 1996, but somehow fell off the poisons list, meaning it was a substance that was not controlled by the authorities. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Shipsey said if the issue had been addressed earlier, his daughter "could still be with us".
The drug is highly toxic and not intended for human consumption, but the industrial chemical is sold illegally in diet pills as a fat-burning substance.
Users of DNP experience a boost in metabolism, leading to weight loss, but even just a few tablets can be fatal.
People who take too many of the tablets can experience nausea, vomiting, restlessness and irregular heartbeat.
Even those who don't overdose and consume lower amounts over longer periods of time could leave themselves with problems including cataracts and skin lesions, as well as impact on the heart, blood and nervous system.
Fiona was full of praise for Mr Shipsey, and believes getting the drug reclassified and controlled will offer an additional layer of protection to vulnerable people who might otherwise buy it.
"He lost his daughter and he has been pushing for it to be reclassified," she said. "He's been keeping me fully informed along the way which I'm really grateful for. It is great work from him and I'm immensely proud. It has been something he has been working on for five years."
Nobody has been prosecuted over Bethany's death, although Mr Shipsey did travel to the Ukraine to confront the man who sold it to her.
Fiona added: "He has never had a prosecution for his daughter because she bought it from the Ukraine. But this is something positive that really matters to him.
"I wasn't expecting it to hit the news like it has. It would give a bit more protection."
