Oregon's unused death penalty drugs test pharmaceutical company leaders

Oregon's unused lethal injection drugs have set the stage for a test of the sincerity of pharmaceutical executives who say they don't want their products used to execute prisoners.

Since Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber cancelled the planned Dec. 6 execution of convicted murderer Gary Haugen, the state has returned the lethal injection drugs to an undisclosed wholesaler. Oregon had obtained 20 50-milliliter vials of pentobarbital; 50 10-milliliter vials of pancuronium and 50 20-milliliter vials of potassium chloride. The supply cost nearly $18,000 and Oregon expects to get much of the money back.

Two companies, Hospira Inc. and the Danish firm Lundbeck, are on the spot because they supplied the drugs in the first place, argues Ford Vox, a Boston physician and medical journalist, in an editorial in The Guardian:

Click here to read the full article

Source: OregonLive.com, January 17, 2012

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