Police are investigating the possible link between the use of poisonous tree frog secretions, known as kambo, and the death of a woman on the New South Wales north coast.

Natasha Lechner, 39, died at a home in Mullumbimby on March 8.

Detectives from the Tweed-Byron Police District said Ms Lechner went into cardiac arrest during a natural therapy procedure, and that they were "investigating reports she had participated in a kambo ceremony".

However, police said the exact cause of death was yet to be determined by the coroner.

Ms Lechner described herself on social media as a kambo practitioner qualified with the International Association of Kambo Practitioners.

She advertised her service in the Byron Shire under the name Deep Forest Kambo.
What is kambo?

Kambo is the name given to a secretion, or psychoactive poison, taken from South America's giant green monkey tree frog.

Martin Williams, from the Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, said the frog's toxic peptides were used to induce vomiting in humans as part of a cleansing or purging process.

He said it was generally introduced to the lymphatic system via wounds created, often by burning skin, on the shoulder or ankle.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-21/frog-toxin-may-be-linked-to-womans-death/...