The Death Penalty in the OSCE Area–Background Paper 2018 nationwide objection by pharmaceutical companies to their medicines being used in executions.52 Some other states attempted to pass new laws to protect the identities of drug suppliers.53 Background information: Until 2009, most states used a three-drug combination for lethal injections: an anesthetic (usually sodium thiopental, until pentobarbital was introduced at the end of 2010), pancuronium bromide (a paralytic agent, also known by the brand name Pavulon), and potassium chloride (which stops the heart and causes death). An EU regulation on trade in goods that may be used for capital punishment or torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment came into force in 2005, was updated in 2011, and amended on 23 November 2016.54 It bans certain medicinal products from being exported for the purpose of capital punishment and prohibits any transit of the goods listed in Annex II of the regulation. It also imposes restrictions on supplying brokering services related to any listed goods located in a third country, on supplying certain other services to third countries and on promoting certain goods in trade fairs in the EU.55 Due to the EU regulation and a growing refusal of pharmaceutical companies to sell their products to the United States for the purpose of executions, many states have experienced a shortage of drugs used in lethal injections. At the same time, several drug-makers, including major pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer, actively oppose the use of their products in lethal injections for capital punishment.56 Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson condemned the use of an anesthetic drug called etomidate, discovered by their scientists, in the three-drug cocktail that was used for Mark Asay’s execution in Florida.57 In April 2017,  drug distributor McKesson Medical-Surgical sued Arkansas after learning that the state was using one of its distributed medicines as an execution drug, and alleged that 52  “Death-row inmate tired of postponements: ‘Just get it done’”, New York Post, 9 August 2018, <https://nypost. com/2018/08/09/death-row-inmate-tired-of-postponements-just-get-it-done/>. 53  “What to Know About the Death Penalty in 2018”, the Marshall Project, 1 March 2018, <https://www.themarshallproject.org/2018/01/03/what-to-know-about-the-death-penalty-in-2018>. 54  “Council Regulation (EC) No. 1236/2005”, Official Journal of the European Union, , 27 June 2005, <https://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2005:200:0001:0019:EN:PDF>; “Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 775/2014”, Official Journal of the European Union, 16 July 2014, <https://eur-lex.europa.eu/ legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R0775>; “Regulation (EU) 2016/2134 of the European Parliament and of the Council”, Official Journal of the European Union, , 23 November 2016, <https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32016R2134>. 55  “Anti-torture measures”, Service for Foreign policy Instruments of the European Commission, <http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/fpi/what-we-do/anti-torture_measures_en.htm>. 56  “Pfizer’s Position on Use of Our Products in Lethal Injections for Capital Punishment”, Pfizer, April 2016, <https://www.pfizer.com/files/b2b/GlobalPolicyPaperLethalInjection.pdf>. 57  “Johnson & Johnson says its drug shouldn’t be used in executions”, the Washington Post, 22 August 2017, <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/08/22/johnson-johnson-says-its-drug-shouldnt-beused-to-kill-prisoners/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.9edcd6fdd4a8>. 17