Replacement execution drug ample, but has issues

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

ATLANTA – On paper, the drug that states are increasingly counting on to replace a sedative used in executions shares several drawbacks with the one that's no longer readily available.

Both were intended for other uses. Each was or is made by only one company in the U.S. And the substitute drug will have to run the same legal gauntlet that the first drug survived.

There is one key difference, however: Experts say there is plenty of the replacement, pentobarbital, and it's not likely the manufacturer will abruptly halt production and touch off the kind of supply crisis that struck the first drug's maker.

There already was a shortage of sodium thiopental before its manufacturer, Hospira Inc., said in January it would no longer make the drug, sending most of the 35 death penalty states scrambling for an alternative. The Lake Forest, Ill.-based company quit production when lawmakers in Italy, home of the company's new factory, demanded assurances that the substance would not be used in executions.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110302/ap_on_re_us/us_execution_drug_supply

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Activist News http://activistnews.blogspot.com

[micraphone]

1. Now if you banned State sponsored murder....

There would be no need for this sickening bit of 'news'.