DANISH COMPANY REJECTS CAPITAL PUNISHMENT BUT WON’T STOP US EXECUTION DRUG

March 30, 2011: A Danish company that unwittingly has become a key supplier of an execution drug in the U.S. says it’s not going to withdraw or restrict it, even though it objects to the chemical being “misused” for capital punishment.
CEO Ulf Wiinberg told AP on Wednesday that Lundbeck A/S is doing “all we can” to dissuade U.S. states from using pentobarbital for lethal injections, but won’t pull it from the U.S. market.
He said Lundbeck also decided against rewriting U.S. distribution contracts to prevent the drug from being sold to prisons. Wiinberg says “we don’t believe it will work and we will not do it.”
Several U.S. states including Texas have switched to pentobarbital for lethal injections to replace another chemical that’s no longer readily available. (Sources: Associated Press, 30/03/2011)