Posted on 04/20/2015 5:37:18 AM PDT by thackney
Yesterday, Oklahoma governor Mary Fallin signed into law a bill that approves the use of nitrogen gas for executions in the state. The method, which would effectively asphyxiate death row inmates by forcing them to breathe pure nitrogen through a gas mask, is meant to be the primary alternative to lethal injection, The Washington Post reports.
Fallin and other supporters of the procedure say it's pain-free and effective, noting that the nitrogen would render inmates unconscious within ten seconds and kill them in minutes. It's also cheap: state representatives say the method only requires a nitrogen tank and a gas mask, but financial analysts say its impossible to give precise figures, the Post reports.
Oklahoma's primary execution method is still lethal injection, but the state's procedure is currently under review by the Supreme Court. Earlier this week, Tennessee suspended executions statewide following challenges to its own lethal injection protocol.
The new bill accounts for the possibility that, even if lethal injection is ruled constitutional, the drugs necessary to perform the procedure may still be unavailable. Ohio recently suspended all of its 2015 executions while it attempts to restock its supply of lethal injection drugs. Last month, the largest group of pharmacists in the US urged its members to refrain from providing prisons with the chemicals used in lethal injections. If Oklahoma cannot use lethal injection for capital punishment, it will turn to the nitrogen method, followed by the electric chair and finally a firing squad if the previous options fail. There are no previous records of a formal nitrogen gas execution, the Post reports.
Opponents of the nitrogen hypoxia bill say no execution is truly painless, and that this decision was rushed through in an effort to pass a law before the Supreme Court's ruling later this month.
"I think that Oklahoma has acted first and thought second in the manner it’s gone about conducting executions," Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center said. "And the hasty manner in which this bill sped into law reflects the same lack of care with which Oklahoma has managed its execution process historically."
unham told the Post that "the myth [of a] quick, painless and effective" death was once used to champion lethal injection. A botched lethal injection in Oklahoma last April caused an inmate's vein to rupture, which prevented the three-drug cocktail from taking full effect. The nitrogen hypoxia bill will go into effect in November, the Post reports. The Oklahoma Department of Corrections does not yet have a protocol in place for the approved method.
HAZARDS OF NITROGEN ASPHYXIATION
http://www.csb.gov/assets/1/19/SB-Nitrogen-6-11-031.pdf
U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board
Every year people are killed by breathing “air” that contains too little oxygen. Because 78 percent of the air we breathe is nitrogen gas, many people assume that nitrogen is not harmful. However, nitrogen is safe to breathe only when mixed with the appropriate amount of oxygen.
These two gases cannot be detected by the sense of smell. A nitrogen enriched environment, which depletes oxygen, can be detected only with special instruments. If the concentration of nitrogen is too high (and oxygen too low), the body becomes oxygen deprived and asphyxiation occurs....
Breathing an oxygen deficient atmosphere can have serious and immediate effects, including unconsciousness after only one or two breaths. The exposed person has no warning and cannot sense that the oxygen level is too low....
More info at the link
I doubt that.
If it were true, nobody would be able to hold their breath for more than ten seconds.
Holding your breath retains the oxygen already present in your lungs. Breathing in pure nitrogen replaces that oxygen.
That said, it still sounds too quick...
Nitrogen Asphyxiation is FAST. So fast that most people who are exposed are unable to help themselves or even leave the environment. 10 seconds maybe, 30 seconds more likely.
There is still significant oxygen in the air you would normally exhale. This method would take that quickly to zero percent O2.
For comparison:
http://www.normalbreathing.com/patterns-oxygen-extraction.php
Composition of outer or inhaled air:
O2 - Oxygen 158 mm Hg (20.9%)
CO2 - Carbon dioxide 0.3 mm Hg (0.04%)
H2O - Water 5.7 mm Hg (0.75%)
N2 - Nitrogen 596 mm Hg (78.4%)
Composition of the expired air:
O2 - Oxygen 116 mm Hg (15.3%)
CO2 - Carbon dioxide 32 mm Hg (4.2%)
H2O - Water 47 mm Hg (6.2%)
N2 - Nitrogen 565 mm Hg (74.3%)
Carbon dioxide would probably work too.
Indeed. I used to work around nitrogen containment. It’s a frighteningly quick killer.
About freaking time. I have been advocating this for years. Put them in an air tight cell, replace air with inert gas. If they choose to donate organs, then they are still viable. This whole procedure would be safer for the prison, and more human way to rid ourselves of the evil parasites.
Next, liquid nitrogen and a hammer to break the frozen body into dozens of pieces.
Just add a little Nitrous Oxide gas to the mix....and they die laughing.
Actually, no, CO2 wouldn’t work well. Your body can actually detect high concentrations of CO2 and reacts to it in a negative fashion. Hence using a CO2 chamber would likely work up the ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ angle. Nitrogen is the vast majority of the air we breath, so people are made to ignore it in high concentrations.
The reason I’ve been in favor of the nitrogen chamber for quite a while now (after reading an article with the suggestion some years ago), it is that is simply works, is cheap, and gets rid of any negative spectacle. The point of the death penalty is to put the perp down permanently, not to engage in any kind of cruelty. Nitrogen does this cleanly and cheaply. Honestly I’m amazed at how long it has taken for someone to adopt this. Considering how much more bother lethal injection actually is, there’s just no logic in it having taken this long.
I’ve been drunk on Nitrogen.
The human body's "suffocation alarm" is triggered by high levels of CO2. CO2 would generate a panic attack, and unwelcome drama. Your body doesn't sense low levels of O2, just excessive levels of CO2.
Um... HELLO??? it's a PUNISHMENT!
But only at depth, I bet.
I’m guessing expanding gases from “activated” gunpowder forcing a 45 slug down a gun barrel and into the convict’s brain...would work even faster.
As I recall some inspectors died quickly while inspecting the hold of a ship full of scrap steel. The steel had removed all the oxygen (via rust) in the air tight hold. The inspectors never knew what hit them.
Oh, from Wikipedia regarding animal euthinasia:
In 2013, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) issued new guidelines for carbon dioxide induction, stating that a flow rate of 10% to 30% volume/min is optimal for the humane euthanization of small rodents.[10]
Carbon monoxide is often used, but some states in the US have banned its use in animal shelters: although carbon monoxide poisoning is not particularly painful, the conditions in the gas chamber are often not humane.[11] Nitrogen has been shown to be effective, although some young animals are rather resistant[12] and it currently is not widely used.
I still say a hot shot of Heroin would work well.
CO2 triggers a response in the human body that causes a panic “I’m drowning” response. Pure nitrogen does not cause the same response.
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