SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Drug Makers Join Lawsuit Against Arkansas' "Conveyor Belt" of Executions
"The companies are understandably appalled at the prospect of their medicines being used in America's largest mass execution since the civil rights era"
Apr 14, 2017
As Arkansas moves forward with its brutal plan to execute seven prisoners within 11 days, the makers of the drugs Arkansas plans to use to put the prisoners to death have joined a lawsuit to stop the "conveyor belt of death."
"[C]ourts might want to take note of Arkansas' essentially lawless position. Seeking poisons to take human life, the state was thwarted because the makers of medicines refused to collaborate in killing."
--Garrett Epps, The Atlantic"Pharmaceutical manufacturers develop drugs to save and improve lives, and the companies are understandably appalled at the prospect of their medicines being used in America's largest mass execution since the civil rights era," said Maya Foa, director of the human rights organization Reprieve, in a statement.
In their brief (pdf) filed Thursday, the companies Fresenius Kabi and West-Ward argue that "[t]he use of their medicines for lethal injections violates contractual supply-chain controls that the Manufacturers have implemented" and "[t]he use of their medicines for lethal injections [...] creates a public-health risk because it could result in the denial of medicines from patients who need them most."
As the Atlantic's Garrett Epps reported earlier this week, the state has in fact admitted breaching its contract with the drug companies to purchase the medicine from a third-party supplier.
Epps wrote:
[C]ourts might want to take note of Arkansas' essentially lawless position. Seeking poisons to take human life, the state was thwarted because the makers of medicines refused to collaborate in killing. The state then persuaded some company somewhere to violate a valid contract and turn over these drugs to be used contrary to their purpose. In an earlier case involving the new "cocktail," the state admitted that it had knowingly bought the drugs from distributors who were violating contracts with the drug-makers. The suppliers only agreed to the sale, the state admits, because a change in Arkansas state law made their identities exempt from disclosure under the state's public records law. Asked about this, Judd Deere, communications director for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, responded, "I don't have any further comment."
"Arkansas deliberately engineered a breach in these companies' contracts in order to obtain these drugs, undermining the interests of the healthcare industry and putting public health at risk," Foa noted. "Reprieve fully supports Fresenius Kabi and West-Ward's efforts to prevent this grave misuse of life-saving medicines and protect public health."
The lawsuit the companies are joining argues that the state's lethal injection "cocktail" is highly likely to subject inmates to a torturous and botched execution.
Indeed, just last week a federal judge affirmed an appeals court's decision to halt Ohio's use of one of the drugs in question, Midazolam, in the state's executions, as it was likely to pose a risk of "serious harm" to prisoners.
In the meantime, rights activists continue to call for an end to the executions altogether.
"It is not too late for Arkansas to halt these executions," said Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, in a statement. "The conveyor belt of death which it is about to set in motion proves how out of step it is with the rest of the world when it comes to state-sanctioned killing, which is on the decline globally as more and more governments, and more U.S. states, recognize it for the cruel anachronism it is."
"Debates over the use of lethal injection must not just be about fine-tuning the killing process," Rosas added. "It is a myth that the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state can ever be 'humane,' and it is long past time for the USA to join the global abolitionist trend."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
As Arkansas moves forward with its brutal plan to execute seven prisoners within 11 days, the makers of the drugs Arkansas plans to use to put the prisoners to death have joined a lawsuit to stop the "conveyor belt of death."
"[C]ourts might want to take note of Arkansas' essentially lawless position. Seeking poisons to take human life, the state was thwarted because the makers of medicines refused to collaborate in killing."
--Garrett Epps, The Atlantic"Pharmaceutical manufacturers develop drugs to save and improve lives, and the companies are understandably appalled at the prospect of their medicines being used in America's largest mass execution since the civil rights era," said Maya Foa, director of the human rights organization Reprieve, in a statement.
In their brief (pdf) filed Thursday, the companies Fresenius Kabi and West-Ward argue that "[t]he use of their medicines for lethal injections violates contractual supply-chain controls that the Manufacturers have implemented" and "[t]he use of their medicines for lethal injections [...] creates a public-health risk because it could result in the denial of medicines from patients who need them most."
As the Atlantic's Garrett Epps reported earlier this week, the state has in fact admitted breaching its contract with the drug companies to purchase the medicine from a third-party supplier.
Epps wrote:
[C]ourts might want to take note of Arkansas' essentially lawless position. Seeking poisons to take human life, the state was thwarted because the makers of medicines refused to collaborate in killing. The state then persuaded some company somewhere to violate a valid contract and turn over these drugs to be used contrary to their purpose. In an earlier case involving the new "cocktail," the state admitted that it had knowingly bought the drugs from distributors who were violating contracts with the drug-makers. The suppliers only agreed to the sale, the state admits, because a change in Arkansas state law made their identities exempt from disclosure under the state's public records law. Asked about this, Judd Deere, communications director for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, responded, "I don't have any further comment."
"Arkansas deliberately engineered a breach in these companies' contracts in order to obtain these drugs, undermining the interests of the healthcare industry and putting public health at risk," Foa noted. "Reprieve fully supports Fresenius Kabi and West-Ward's efforts to prevent this grave misuse of life-saving medicines and protect public health."
The lawsuit the companies are joining argues that the state's lethal injection "cocktail" is highly likely to subject inmates to a torturous and botched execution.
Indeed, just last week a federal judge affirmed an appeals court's decision to halt Ohio's use of one of the drugs in question, Midazolam, in the state's executions, as it was likely to pose a risk of "serious harm" to prisoners.
In the meantime, rights activists continue to call for an end to the executions altogether.
"It is not too late for Arkansas to halt these executions," said Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, in a statement. "The conveyor belt of death which it is about to set in motion proves how out of step it is with the rest of the world when it comes to state-sanctioned killing, which is on the decline globally as more and more governments, and more U.S. states, recognize it for the cruel anachronism it is."
"Debates over the use of lethal injection must not just be about fine-tuning the killing process," Rosas added. "It is a myth that the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state can ever be 'humane,' and it is long past time for the USA to join the global abolitionist trend."
As Arkansas moves forward with its brutal plan to execute seven prisoners within 11 days, the makers of the drugs Arkansas plans to use to put the prisoners to death have joined a lawsuit to stop the "conveyor belt of death."
"[C]ourts might want to take note of Arkansas' essentially lawless position. Seeking poisons to take human life, the state was thwarted because the makers of medicines refused to collaborate in killing."
--Garrett Epps, The Atlantic"Pharmaceutical manufacturers develop drugs to save and improve lives, and the companies are understandably appalled at the prospect of their medicines being used in America's largest mass execution since the civil rights era," said Maya Foa, director of the human rights organization Reprieve, in a statement.
In their brief (pdf) filed Thursday, the companies Fresenius Kabi and West-Ward argue that "[t]he use of their medicines for lethal injections violates contractual supply-chain controls that the Manufacturers have implemented" and "[t]he use of their medicines for lethal injections [...] creates a public-health risk because it could result in the denial of medicines from patients who need them most."
As the Atlantic's Garrett Epps reported earlier this week, the state has in fact admitted breaching its contract with the drug companies to purchase the medicine from a third-party supplier.
Epps wrote:
[C]ourts might want to take note of Arkansas' essentially lawless position. Seeking poisons to take human life, the state was thwarted because the makers of medicines refused to collaborate in killing. The state then persuaded some company somewhere to violate a valid contract and turn over these drugs to be used contrary to their purpose. In an earlier case involving the new "cocktail," the state admitted that it had knowingly bought the drugs from distributors who were violating contracts with the drug-makers. The suppliers only agreed to the sale, the state admits, because a change in Arkansas state law made their identities exempt from disclosure under the state's public records law. Asked about this, Judd Deere, communications director for Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, responded, "I don't have any further comment."
"Arkansas deliberately engineered a breach in these companies' contracts in order to obtain these drugs, undermining the interests of the healthcare industry and putting public health at risk," Foa noted. "Reprieve fully supports Fresenius Kabi and West-Ward's efforts to prevent this grave misuse of life-saving medicines and protect public health."
The lawsuit the companies are joining argues that the state's lethal injection "cocktail" is highly likely to subject inmates to a torturous and botched execution.
Indeed, just last week a federal judge affirmed an appeals court's decision to halt Ohio's use of one of the drugs in question, Midazolam, in the state's executions, as it was likely to pose a risk of "serious harm" to prisoners.
In the meantime, rights activists continue to call for an end to the executions altogether.
"It is not too late for Arkansas to halt these executions," said Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International, in a statement. "The conveyor belt of death which it is about to set in motion proves how out of step it is with the rest of the world when it comes to state-sanctioned killing, which is on the decline globally as more and more governments, and more U.S. states, recognize it for the cruel anachronism it is."
"Debates over the use of lethal injection must not just be about fine-tuning the killing process," Rosas added. "It is a myth that the premeditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state can ever be 'humane,' and it is long past time for the USA to join the global abolitionist trend."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.