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Pfizer Blocks The Use Of Its Drugs In Executions
HughPickens.com writes: Erik Eckholm reports in the NYT that the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has announced that it has imposed sweeping controls on the distribution of its products to ensure that none are used in lethal injections, a step that closes off the last remaining open-market source of drugs used in executions. "Pfizer makes its products to enhance and save the lives of the patients we serve," the company says, and "strongly objects to the use of its products as lethal injections for capital punishment." "With Pfizer's announcement, all F.D.A.-approved manufacturers of any potential execution drug have now blocked their sale for this purpose," says Maya Foa. "Executing states must now go underground if they want to get hold of medicines for use in lethal injection." The mounting difficulty in obtaining lethal drugs has already caused states to furtively scramble for supplies. Some states have used straw buyers or tried to import drugs from abroad that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration, only to see them seized by federal agents. Other states have experimented with new drug combinations, sometimes with disastrous results, such as the prolonged execution of Joseph Wood in Arizona in 2014, using the sedative midazolam. A few states have adopted the electric chair, firing squad or gas chamber as an alternative if lethal drugs are not available. Since Utah chooses to have a death penalty, "we have to have a means of carrying it out," said State Representative Paul Ray as he argued last year for authorization of the firing squad.
Put them in jail instead.
It's cheaper and a wrongful conviction can be reversed.
The majority of countries no longer have the death penalty.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
No.
See, in most people, the breathing reflex is triggered by the presence of carbon dioxide - not the absence of oxygen. You could walk into a room containing pure nitrogen, breathe away, and feel just fine - right up until you collapse because of a lack of oxygen (in fact, you'd stop breathing reflexively, because your carbon dioxide levels would fall too low for the reflex to kick in). The same thing would happen with pure helium, pure argon, pure sulphur hexafluoride, etc. Any gas that is inert to the human body will work for this purpose (which rules out chlorine, fluorine, and other reactive gases.)
This isn't about forcing nitrogen into the body at high pressure (which is what happens as a precursor to the bends). This is about displacing the oxygen in a way that the body doesn't pick up on - it'd be like the executed victim just falls asleep and never wakes up.
Of course factories and sales in some of the worst human rights abuse countries in the world are okay. I guess doing business with evil regimes is okay as long as they don't use your products for things you don't approve of. Let's see them stop all sales in China as a protest over Chinese government abuses. Or Turkey. Or Singapore. Or Russia. Not going to happen. This is fake morality. They don't care about right and wrong. It is just convenient, safe, and politically correct to attack the death penalty in the Unites States.
http://www.fiercepharma.com/partnering/pfizer-building-plant-saudi-arabia
http://www.ibtimes.com/saudi-arabia-executions-2016-beheadings-may-set-new-record-year-amid-western-pressure-2347203
It takes a minute or two at the least. And the suffoccee will gasp ferociously while tearing at their throat during before unconsciousness ensues. It is a horror show.
This is wrong. Inert gas asphyxiation is quick and painless. The victim usually does not even detect that anything is wrong before losing consciousness. There is no sensation of suffocation because there is no CO2 buildup in the blood.
Just switch to nitrogen asphyxiation if you want a humane execution
Oklahoma has already legalized N2 asphyxiation as a backup to lethal injection. Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed it into law last year. In other news, Mary Fallin is supposedly on Donald Trump's short list for VP.
> Have you ever seen a mammal die of Displacement Asphyxiation (via nitrogen, argon, or anything else inert and devoid of oxygen)?
Yes, in fact, I have. I've seen a human die of anoxia while diving with a rebreather.
> It takes a minute or two at the least. And the suffoccee will gasp ferociously while tearing at their throat during before unconsciousness ensues. It is a horror show.
This is patently untrue. CO2 buildup will cause the reactions you are describing- but not inert gas asphyxiation. Please provide a source your claims.