Enlarge / A Texas death chamber in Huntsville, Texas. (credit: Getty | Joe Raedle )
Texas officials filed a federal lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration Tuesday following a 17-month stand-off with the agency over the legality of imported drugs the state intended to use for lethal injections.
In July of 2015, Texas imported 1,000 vials of thiopental sodium, a barbiturate anesthetic that ensures rapid loss of consciousness when given in lethal cocktails. According to the court documents (PDF), the drugs came from an unnamed “foreign distributor.” (However, Buzzfeed has reported they were from a questionable source in India.) At the request of the FDA, the drugs were seized by Customs officials upon their arrival at the airport. Later, the FDA said that the drugs were not approved for use in the US and were improperly labeled. Texas appealed, arguing that because the drugs would be used by law enforcement, they met an exception to federal regulations. The FDA responded by notifying the state that it was tentatively barred from importing the drug.
In this week’s lawsuit, Texas reasserts its “law enforcement exemption” claim. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was openly frustrated with the FDA’s interference. In a press release, Paxton said:
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Source: Ars Technica – Texas loses patience, sues FDA for barring import of lethal injection drug