23 October 2010

How does the FDA regulate execution drugs for safety and efficacy?





If Arizona obtained the drug from an overseas supplier, they argue, it may be substandard and violate Food and Drug Administration rules for importation.

Kent Scheidegger, legal director for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a group that supports the death penalty, said that arguing over the safety of a drug for executions is “absurd.”

“As long as it’s a real drug manufacturer and not mixed up in somebody’s garage, it doesn’t matter where it came from,” Mr. Scheidegger said. While the Food and Drug Administration is supposed to determine whether drugs are safe and effective, he said, “in this case, safe and effective are opposites.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/us/23execute.html?_r=1&ref=us