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Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 1:23 am
After the only manufacturer in the USA ceased production of sodium thiopental (known here as sodium pentothal, or truth serum) last year (a veterinary drug used in lethal injections) and a worldwide ban was imposed on exporting it to the United States, executions halted briefly. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39385026/ns/...xecutions/
Death penalty states are turning to phenobarbital (pentobarbital), used to treat severe epilepsy. Originally developed by Bayer in Germany and sold as Luminal, it was first used in the Nazi “final solution” for elderly, epileptic, and disabled people in 1934. It was discovered to have a positive effect on seizures by Bayer.
I take phenobarbital for my seizures, as other medications have not worked or had life-threatening side effects. While phenobarbital is listed by WHO as a critical medication for any basic clinic, in the USA it is difficult to get a prescription for.
When Virginia was unable to obtain more sodium thiopental as manufacturers around the world attempted to prevent its use in executions in the United States for moral or public relations reasons (the USA is the only industrialized nation with the death penalty and companies don’t want to be known as “Dr. Pharma Death” in their own countries), that state executed a convicted murderer today over the strong objections of the manufacturer with phenobarbital.
Lundbeck points out they are in the business of saving lives, not ending them. Phenobarbital amounts to 1% of Lundbeck Pharmaceutical’s sales.
Last month the company announced a new program after conferring with physicians who expressed concern that Lundbeck might discontinue phenobarbital because of executions using the drug, advocating for their epilepsy patients. Lundbeck announced they would no longer ship it to state governments or prisons in death penalty states, and would require all patients to sign a waiver in the future that the drug is only for them, and they will not transfer it without the company’s approval, in an effort to keep it out of the hands of those state governments.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-14579136 (full article, this is international news today).
The states care more about executing a handful of people (a small percentage of which will be exonerated after the fact) over the needs of tens of thousands of people with epilepsy. “Tough on crime” gets more votes than “concerned about health care,” as witnessed in the arguments about health care reform.
What concerns me is that the Federal government has the death penalty for twenty-three crimes, and the Government Services Agency purchases products for the whole Federal government. The Feds have already done things like tried to force states without death penalties to carry them out (Michigan stands out last year in its refusal in the face of losing all Federal funding). Lundbeck cannot prevent redistribution of phenobarbital from the Veterans Administration to the Bureau of Prisons, for example. Lundbeck can only stop the Feds using their drugs for death by stopping sales to the Federal government, and then I lose my epilepsy med.
Of all the meds on the market, it is the only one I can use safely, a problem many people with epilepsy have. The FDA has already tried to remove it from the market, as it is not regulated for safety and efficacy by them, being a pre-1934 drug. Now the state (and presumably Federal) governments will pressure the FDA to drop its position against the medication.
- James
Following in Mark Twain's footsteps: "I had to hurry to the mirror to see if I was still there." - Québec Premier Jean Charest, Aug 16, 2011, after a hacker posted the hoax that he'd died of a heart attack to a newspaper Website, which circulated on Twitter.
"Be ye not lost amongst Precept of Order." - Book of Uterus, 1:5, "Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her."
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 1:42 am
It's kind of retarded. You have a product for sale, so sell it. What they do with it is no longer up to you once they buy, nor should its usage be up to you.
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 1:50 am
Phenobarbital or Sodium Thiopental are only part of the death cocktail. These would be used as a sedative to render the prisoner unconscious. Then Norcuron would be given. It is a strong paralytic that ceases breathing and then a lethal dose of potassium chloride is given that interrupts the sodium potassium pump in the heart and causes cardiac arrest. Without the sedative the prisoner would be awake and alert even though he couldn't move because of the paralytic. I'm sure the potassium building up to a lethal dose would also cause chest pain and anxiety even though the prisoner couldn't move. This would be considered cruel and unusual punishment.
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 1:53 am
Never did understand how pain before death enters into it: You'll be dead soon anyway. Seriously: why make such a big deal on making death less painful?
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 2:12 am
(This post was last modified: August 19, 2011 at 2:15 am by Anymouse.)
(August 19, 2011 at 1:53 am)Aerzia Saerules Arktuos Wrote: Never did understand how pain before death enters into it: You'll be dead soon anyway. Seriously: why make such a big deal on making death less painful?
Aside from the constitutional requirement that punishment not be cruel?
I know: lets not use phenobarbital: sentenced to execution, die by being run over with a Ford Explorer. Let's see how long it takes before Ford regains the name of death-mobile (first earned with the Pinto), and how quickly Ford moves to quit selling their Explorers to states that use them to run over prisoners.
Or, put prisoners to be executed in the back of a Pinto and ram it in the rear with a Ford Explorer.
And really. Running over their head with a 7000 pound SUV ought to be much quicker and painless than the drug cocktail they use now. And the vehicle could be endlessly reused for this purpose. After a while the blood splatters all over it would look good on televised executions. After all, if executions are meant to be a "deterrent" then the states that voters approve of such ought to be forced to watch the executions so they can see their deterrents at work.
"Now watch, little Johnny and Suzie, here comes the big truck to run over the bad man's head. Honey will you go buy the kids some cotton candy?"
"Be ye not lost amongst Precept of Order." - Book of Uterus, 1:5, "Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess and What I Did to Her When I Found Her."
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 2:40 am
Quote:Seriously: why make such a big deal on making death less painful?
We like to pretend that we are not barbarians, Sae.
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 2:50 am
Quote:Phenobarbital amounts to 1% of Lundbeck Pharmaceutical’s sales.
Fucking humbugs. I'd like to see their attitude if it was say 10% 
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 3:07 am
(This post was last modified: August 19, 2011 at 3:11 am by Violet.)
(August 19, 2011 at 2:40 am)Minimalist Wrote: Quote:Seriously: why make such a big deal on making death less painful?
We like to pretend that we are not barbarians, Sae.
Oh... carry on then  I do love a good fairy tale ^_^
Reminds me of religion 
(August 19, 2011 at 2:12 am)Anymouse Wrote: (August 19, 2011 at 1:53 am)Aerzia Saerules Arktuos Wrote: Never did understand how pain before death enters into it: You'll be dead soon anyway. Seriously: why make such a big deal on making death less painful? [font=Georgia]
Aside from the constitutional requirement that punishment not be cruel?
The... what? How the hell could you have an uncruel punishment? That is absurd... you're going to make an absurdist of me yet.
Quote:I know: lets not use phenobarbital: sentenced to execution, die by being run over with a Ford Explorer. Let's see how long it takes before Ford regains the name of death-mobile (first earned with the Pinto), and how quickly Ford moves to quit selling their Explorers to states that use them to run over prisoners.
* Violet doesn't associate Ford Explorers with what people do to them.
Quote:Or, put prisoners to be executed in the back of a Pinto and ram it in the rear with a Ford Explorer.
I feel sorry for the Pinto, if I know my cars right
Quote:And really. Running over their head with a 7000 pound SUV ought to be much quicker and painless than the drug cocktail they use now. And the vehicle could be endlessly reused for this purpose. After a while the blood splatters all over it would look good on televised executions. After all, if executions are meant to be a "deterrent" then the states that voters approve of such ought to be forced to watch the executions so they can see their deterrents at work.
Hell, I bet it's cheaper too. Why don't we do this, again?
Quote:"Now watch, little Johnny and Suzie, here comes the big truck to run over the bad man's head. Honey will you go buy the kids some cotton candy?"
Well that's a great way to treat a wife. How about YOU go buy the cotton candy, and I watch?
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 5:55 am
(August 19, 2011 at 2:12 am)Anymouse Wrote: Aside from the constitutional requirement that punishment not be cruel?
Lol, it's the freaking death penalty. If we were truly concerned about cruelty, we wouldn't be killing people. The only reason to use drugs is to try and convince ourselves that we're not as bad as the people we're executing. I say if the state is squeamish about using the guillotine, then they should be squeamish about the death penalty in the first place.
Seriously though, if you are unable to get the drug you need to start making a lot of noise. That's bullshit.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: Pharma company protests use of epilepsy med for executions.
August 19, 2011 at 6:36 am
I'm so sorry James to read this, I sure hope that sense will win over PR and that you'll be able to keep your drugs. 
When I was young, there was a god with infinite power protecting me. Is there anyone else who felt that way? And was sure about it? but the first time I fell in love, I was thrown down - or maybe I broke free - and I bade farewell to God and became human. Now I don't have God's protection, and I walk on the ground without wings, but I don't regret this hardship. I want to live as a person. -Arina Tanemura
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