UK Pharmaceuticals Deny Responsibility for Death Penalty Drug Supply

Is it acceptable for companies that manufacture drugs used in US executions to know that fact yet deny moral responsibility?

On Thursday, the BBC's Today programme ran a story on Reprieve's investigation into the British execution drug export bonanza. While, originally, it seemed that only sodium thiopental was being sourced in the UK, we recently learned that all three chemicals used in lethal injection have been exported by this country – adding pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride to the deadly mix.

The emails between corrections officials would be amusing if they were not so Orwellian. When Arizona helped California locate lethal chemicals sufficient to kill 85 people in late September, the California bureaucrat expostulated his gratitude: "You're a life saver!" When Arizona wanted to import its execution drugs from the UK to kill Jeffrey Landrigan on 26 October, the federal authorities agreed to expedite the process, since it was "for the purpose of executions and not for use by the general public".

This places in stark relief the ethical duties of the pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and sell these products. Thus far, sad to say, the response has been underwhelming.

To read this Guardian article in full, please click here.

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