US judge approves executions using animal narcotic

A US federal judge has ruled that the state of Oklahoma may use a narcotic used to euthanize animals in executions, dpa reported.

US District Judge Stephen Friot late last week approved the narcotic pentobarbital, which is also used as a sedative and anti- seizure drug in humans and in controversial assisted suicides for humans, according to the daily Oklahoman newspaper.

The drug works on the central nervous system and can render a patient unconscious.

Pentobarbital will be substituted for a more commonly used sedative, sodium thiopental, which is currently not available in the US, according to the report.

Under Oklahoma's execution protocol for lethal injections, the sedative is administered first to the condemned prisoner, followed by a drug that causes paralysis and stops breathing and then a drug that stops the heart.

The scarcity of sodium thiopental has slowed down the number of executions in the US.

In September, the California Supreme Court denied that state's attempt to rush through its first execution in five years before the expiration date of its only remaining dose of sodium thiopental.

At least one of the substances used to make sodium thiopental is exported from Britain, where rights activists have launched a lawsuit to bar the substance from leaving Britain.

Hospira, the sole US manufacturer of the drug, has said new supplies will not be available until late next year. Hospira has expressed displeasure at the fact its product was being used in executions, according to The New York Times.