Forthcoming industry-specific principles on execution drug manufacture

Reprieve is developing industry-specific corporate social responsibility principles regarding execution drug manufacture. We are calling for stakeholder participation in the development of new regulations which will prevent drugs manufactured by pharmaceutical companies from being used to kill prisoners in the US and elsewhere.

In the past year, executioners across the USA have been scrambling to import various drugs from Europe and Asia following a shortage of key drugs used in the lethal injection process. Multinational suppliers such as Abbott, Hospira and Lundbeck have expressed concern at their products being used to kill rather than cure, but claimed they were unable to limit supply to legitimate users of the drugs only. (Development with Lundbeck described below.)

This is not the case. The pharmaceutical industry has the means to enable companies to control the distribution of their products. Corporate social responsibility dictates that a company must not knowingly be complicit in human rights abuses; it’s time the principle be integrated into pharmaceutical industry standards regarding execution drug manufacture.

Earlier this year, Reprieve set the precedent with Danish pharmaceutical manufacturer Lundbeck. After months of negotiations, the company agreed to overhaul their distribution system to prevent the use of one of their drugs in executions. Pharmaceutical manufacturers must be held accountable for their products and, like Lundbeck, take whatever steps necessary to avoid complicity in capital punishment. Stakeholders who wish to contribute to the developments in this important area should contact Maya Foa at Reprieve (maya.foa@reprieve.org.uk) or sign up for updates by mailing info@reprieve.org.uk. 

--- Originally appeared in On the Horizon, a Business and Human Rights Resource Centre bulletin.