New York City Poison Control Center officials issued an alert warning men not to take the substance after a 35-year-old man apparently died from ingesting it last week.
Sold at sex shops and neighborhood stores under the trade names Piedra, Love Stone, Jamaican Stone, Black Stone and Chinese Rock, among others, the substance is banned by the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Health officials say the hard resin made from toad venom contains chemicals that can interfere with heart rhythms. The unidentified man was admitted to an area hospital complaining of chest pain and died two days later.
In the 1990s a number of New Yorkers died after taking the substance.
