Willow
02-03-2011, 02:41 PM
Lawsuit seeks to block imports of key execution drug
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Attorney's representing six death row prisoners sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today in federal court in an attempt to block the importation of a key drug used by states to perform executions by lethal injection.The lawsuit, filed on behalf of prisoners in Arizona, California and Tennessee, alleges that the FDA allowed states to import unapproved supplies of sodium thiopental in violation of federal regulatory laws.
States have been forced to go outside the country to obtain the drug, part of a three-drug protocol used in U.S. executions, because the lone U.S. manufacturer announced last month it was permanently halting production.
"Because unapproved sodium thiopental has not been shown to work as intended, using it in executions creates unacceptable risks that prisoners will not be properly anesthetized before the other drugs used in lethal injection protocols stop the prisoners' breathing and induce cardiac arrest,'' attorney Bradford Berenson said. "Whatever one's views may be on the death penalty, no reasonable person is in favor of botched or inhumane executions."
The lawsuit alleges that large amounts of unapproved sodium thiopental have been imported by at least six states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Nebraska and Tennessee.
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Attorney's representing six death row prisoners sued the U.S. Food and Drug Administration today in federal court in an attempt to block the importation of a key drug used by states to perform executions by lethal injection.The lawsuit, filed on behalf of prisoners in Arizona, California and Tennessee, alleges that the FDA allowed states to import unapproved supplies of sodium thiopental in violation of federal regulatory laws.
States have been forced to go outside the country to obtain the drug, part of a three-drug protocol used in U.S. executions, because the lone U.S. manufacturer announced last month it was permanently halting production.
"Because unapproved sodium thiopental has not been shown to work as intended, using it in executions creates unacceptable risks that prisoners will not be properly anesthetized before the other drugs used in lethal injection protocols stop the prisoners' breathing and induce cardiac arrest,'' attorney Bradford Berenson said. "Whatever one's views may be on the death penalty, no reasonable person is in favor of botched or inhumane executions."
The lawsuit alleges that large amounts of unapproved sodium thiopental have been imported by at least six states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Georgia, Nebraska and Tennessee.