Texas Sues FDA Over 2015 Seizure Of Lethal Injection Drugs

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against the Food and Drug Administration demand that 1,000 vials of a drug administered during lethal injections be released.

The drugs were confiscated by FDA officials at Bush Intercontinental Airport in July 2015, after they arrived by from overseas.

The FDA ruled that the shipment violated federal regulations requiring warning labels on drug package, and that the TDCJ was prohibited from bringing those drugs into the U.S.

The vials seized contain thiopental sodium, one of three drugs used in the cocktail for lethal injection executions, which is no longer manufactured in the U.S.

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The FDA ordered the drugs to be either destroyed or returned to their country of origin within 90.

To date, Texas has executed more than 400 inmates by lethal injection, using thiopental sodium in all of those.

The state has more than 200 inmates who’ve been sentenced to death and not having this drug available will hamper the state’s ability to carry out executions.

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Image: Tommy Woodard via Flickr