DENMARK’S FOREIGN MINISTER says she will urge US states such as Texas and Ohio to stop using a drug in lethal injections that is produced by a Danish company.

Lene Espersen says she cannot take direct action against the company since the drug, pentobarbital, is not exported from Denmark but produced by a plant in the US state of Kansas that is owned by Denmark’s Lundbeck A/S.

Pentobarbital is a sedative with a range of medical uses, including the treatment of epileptic seizures and other conditions which require some form of sedation.

Since late last year, it has been used in the US for lethal injections. Denmark, as is the case with the rest of Europe, is against the death penalty.

Espersen has been asked by a left-wing opposition group if Denmark could find a way of stopping some US states from using the drug in its executions.

“I have no possibility to take direct action at American states’ use of the product for executions, but I will also contact these states through the Danish Embassy in Washington with a call to cease using pentobarbital,” Espersen said in a letter posted on Parliament’s website 12 April.

In Denmark, lawmakers can put written questions to government members who must reply in writing.

“I find it deeply regrettable that a legal medical product is used for executions,” she added in her reply to the small, left-wing opposition Red-Green Alliance.

Espersen could not be reached for comment today.

Copenhagen-based Lundbeck has found itself in a difficult position as several US states have switched to pentobarbital for lethal injections to replace another chemical — sodium thiopental — which is no longer available.

Pentobarbital has been used to execute prisoners in Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas. Fellow US states Mississippi and Arizona are also considering switching to the drug for lethal injections.

Lundbeck has written letters to US prison authorities asking them not to use pentobarbital for lethal injections, but so far to no avail.

The pharmaceutical company, whose best-sellers include drugs for the treatment of psychiatric and neurological disorders, is under pressure from human rights groups to take stronger action, such as rewriting distribution contracts with clauses prohibiting sales of pentobarbital to US prisons.

Lundbeck has rejected that idea, saying it would be impossible for distributors to track how every vial is used.

The company has said it sells about 50 million doses of pentobarbital a year, but has declined to give any breakdown of sales. Pentobarbital, it has said, accounts for a very small percentage of overall sales.

British ban

Meanwhile, Britain said today that it will block the export of three lethal injection drugs to the US and is urging a Europe-wide ban on American sales of the drugs.

Business Secretary Vince Cable said that a block on exports of pentobarbital, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride would be formalised in a few days. In November, Britain blocked exports of the sedative sodium thiopental for use in executions following a legal challenge from a human rights group.

“We oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and are clear that British drugs should not be used to carry out lethal injections,” Cable said. “Because of the importance and urgency of the situation this is an issue on which we felt we had to take the lead.”

Britain has urged the European Commission to expand the export ban to all European Union nations, Cable added.

- AP