Global police forces are working together to try to prevent the supply of so-called "diet pills" which can be deadly.
In April 21-year-old Eloise Aimee Parry, from Shrewsbury, died in hospital on 12 April after becoming unwell after she took a substance she had bought on the internet.
An inquest found that she had consumed four times the fatal amount of Dinitrophenol, known as DNP, which is a toxic pesticide.
The International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol) has now raised an alert with forces in 190 countries.
They declared an "imminent threat" to consumers of DNP, which has also been used in explosives.
One Newsbeat listener who has taken DNP in the past shared some of their experiences.
'I felt like I was on fire'
Gill from Northern Ireland told us that she "thought she was going to die".
"You start to feel a bit of energy off them, but when you expect the energy to wear off it doesn't and that is when my body started to overheat, she explained.
"I felt like I was on fire, I felt like I was boiling in my skin.
"It was just terrible. My heart was beating so fast. It was the worst feeling ever."
Interpol said that some online distributors have tried to mask its supply from customs and police officers by labelling it as the yellow spice, turmeric.
Police said there were "intrinsic dangers of DNP" and the risks are magnified because it is made in illegal manufacturing conditions.
A study last year warned the drug, sometimes used as a weight-loss or bodybuilding aid, could be linked to five more deaths in the UK between 2007 and 2013.
It also warned that it could cause breathing difficulties, fast heart rates, fever, nausea and vomiting.
SOURCE :BBC
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