Saturday, January 15, 2011
Contrary to its own policy of staying out of capital punishment matters, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has helped two states import from the United Kingdom a scarce type of anesthetic used in lethal injections.
The FDA is charged with ensuring the safety and effectiveness of drugs imported for medical purpose. But this oversight does not extend to drugs for executions, claim agency officials, citing a 1985 Supreme Court ruling.
And yet the FDA has made it possible for California and Arizona to get supplies of sodium thiopental from a British company, without first validating the drug.
“The FDA is actively assisting these states, but they’re not enforcing the law, and they’re not doing anything to determine that the drugs are what they’re claimed to be and that they work properly,” Natasha Minkser, death penalty policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, told the Associated Press.
The use of sodium thiopental from overseas is being challenged in a lawsuit in Arizona. The case raises the question of whether the imported supplies meet U.S. standards, or whether they could lead to botched executions.
States across the nation have been running out of the drug because the sole U.S. manufacturer, Hospira, has had trouble making new batches due to supply troubles. Kentucky and Oklahoma are among those that have had to postpone executions because of the shortage.
-David Wallechinsky
FDA Has Helped Two States Obtain Anesthetic Used in Executions (by Andrew Welsh-Huggins, Associated Press)
U.K. Anti-Death Penalty Group Sues to Halt Export of Execution Drug to U.S. (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)
Executions Delayed Because of Drug Shortage (by Noel Brinkerhoff and David Wallechinsky, AllGov)
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