FDA Halts Executions in Texas by Confiscating Lethal Drug, Texas Sues FDA, News Report

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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice sued the federal government on Tuesday, to retrieve 1,000 vials of a lethal injection drug that was seized at Houston airport by FDA in July 2015 under the pretext of determining whether the import of the drug falls to be a violation of drug regulations. The vials were bought from India.

The decision to sue the agency was taken by the officials after the internal process appeal to the FDA was rejected previously in April. And also the import of the drug came in action after obtaining the license to import the drug. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office drafted and will lead the litigation against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Paxton released a statement on Tuesday that the action of FDA represents either "gross incompetence or willful obstruction" and added that his office will not let FDA sit idle and impair Texas law agencies to carry out their legal responsibilities, reports My Statesman.

The suit is meant to call FDA to make a decision whether the batch of drugs should be allowed in the country or no. The drug called sodium thiopental is usually used to knock out prison inmates during executions. And it is one of the three ingredients in a blend of lethal injection used in Texas to carry out executions, writes Washington Post.

The only company that manufactured the drug in the US stopped its sale in 2011 in the country because it did not want it to be used in executions. Since then the drug is imported and the supply of another alternative barbiturate pentobarbital has fallen short since 2013 in Texas.

Other lethal drug options could not be used due to the fear of court challenges from the opponents of the death penalty. And the importation of 1,000 vials of sodium thiopental came only after the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency had actually authorized it. But the drug was seized on behalf of FDA.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is left with no other option but to sue FDA after having used all legal and official formalities to obtain the drug for executions.  FDA is relying on some court opinions the disapproved sodium thiopental for injecting the humans.