Johnson & Johnson Wades Into Death Penalty Debate For First Time
21 Agosto 2017 - 6:42PM
Dow Jones News
By Joe Palazzolo
A Johnson & Johnson company opposes plans by Florida
authorities to use one of its drugs in an upcoming execution,
marking the first time the world's largest pharmaceutical
manufacturer has waded into the death penalty debate.
Earlier this year, Florida amended its lethal injection protocol
to include etomidate, an anesthetic agent that has never been used
in executions, after exhausting its supply of the sedative
midazolam.
Florida authorities are slated to use the updated protocol for
the first time on Thursday in the execution of Mark Asay, who was
sentenced to death for the 1987 killings of Robert Lee Booker and
Robert McDowell in Jacksonville, Fla.
Scientists at Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals NV
created etomidate in the 1960s. The company no longer distributes
the drug, which is still used in hospitals.
But the company on Monday protested Florida's plan to use
etomidate to render death row inmates unconscious, before injecting
them with a paralytic agent and a third drug to stop their
hearts.
"We do not support the use of our medicines for indications that
have not been approved by regulatory authorities," a Janssen
spokesman said in an email. "We do not condone the use of our
medicines in lethal injections for capital punishment."
No Johnson & Johnson drugs have been used so far in
executions, according to Reprieve, an international rights group
that opposes the death penalty.
At least eight companies make etomidate. Florida, like many
states, keeps the identity of its suppliers secret.
Many manufacturers have curbed access to their drugs for lethal
injections at the urging of death penalty abolitionists, forcing
corrections departments to reach for alternatives and create new
protocols, which lawyers for death row inmates have challenged
vigorously.
In recent years, companies including Baxter International Inc.,
McKesson Corp., Pfizer Inc. and Roche Holding AG have publicly
opposed the use of their drugs in executions.
Maya Foa, Reprieve's director, said Johnson & Johnson's
opposition was a milestone in the industry's retreat from the death
penalty.
"The world's largest drug manufacturer has added its voice to
the industry-wide consensus that opposes the misuse of medical
products in lethal injection executions," she said.
Kent Scheidegger, legal director and general counsel of the
Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, which supports the death
penalty, said drug companies have caved to pressure from
abolitionists.
"The drug industry had no problem supplying execution drugs
until they came under fire for it," he said. "As a matter of
business, the profit from selling to this very small market is not
worth the problems the opponents can generate."
Julie Jones, secretary of the Florida Department of Corrections,
said in a January letter to Gov. Rick Scott that the new protocol
"will not involve unnecessary lingering or the unnecessary or
wanton infliction of pain and suffering."
Mr. Scott's press secretary referred questions to a spokeswoman
for the Florida Department of Corrections, who declined to
comment.
The Florida protocol calls for an injection of etomidate,
followed by the paralytic agent rocuronium bromide and potassium
acetate to stop the heart.
Expert witnesses for Mr. Asay testified that etomidate is
quick-acting and known to cause muscle movements and pain on
injection in some patients, making it unsuitable for lethal
injections.
The Florida Supreme Court last week ruled that Mr. Asay is "at
small risk of mild to moderate pain," and declined to halt his
execution.
Write to Joe Palazzolo at joe.palazzolo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 21, 2017 17:27 ET (21:27 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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