Woman Dies After Ingesting Supposed Sexual Stimulant

A mother of three died Wednesday, three days after she sniffed or drank a supposed aphrodisiac that she and her boyfriend had bought at an adult bookstore, police said.

Gail Buscher, 43, had been in a coma since taking a product called Primo on Sunday. Primo, made from the chemical isobutyl nitrite, produces a brief euphoria by dilating blood vessels, increasing the heart rate and causing lightheadedness and flushed skin, Steve Meyer of the state poison control center in Tampa said.

“It’s very dangerous,” he said. “People don’t realize that the high feeling they’re getting is because they’re depriving themselves of oxygen.”

Officials of the federal Food and Drug Administration, which regulates the sale of many drugs, said there is nothing they can do to stop the distribution of isobutyl nitrite as long as it is not sold as a drug.