Why execution by nitrogen gas is so controversial
ON JANUARY 25TH Kenneth Eugene Smith became the first person anywhere to be executed by nitrogen hypoxia. He was convicted in 1989 of murdering Elizabeth Sennett, the wife of a preacher from Alabama, on her husband’s orders. The state had first tried to execute him, by lethal injection, in November 2022, but botched the procedure.
After that, Mr Smith chose to be put to death by novel means. His execution has caused outrage: Alabama claims nitrogen hypoxia is a quick, painless death but many medical experts disagree. Some have likened it to torture.
Why did Alabama authorise this untested method? Lethal injection was used for 89 of the 92 executions carried out in America between 2019 and 2023. (The remaining three were by electric chair.) Three drugs are typically used: an anaesthetic, a paralytic and a chemical that stops the heart. But in recent years a number of American pharmaceutical companies have stopped supplying these drugs because they do not want to be associated with the death penalty.
The European Union has banned the export of any drug that could be used in an execution. Some American states are seeking alternatives. Five (most recently Idaho in 2023) have approved execution by firing squad, a method last used in Utah in 2010.
And three—Alabama, Mississippi and Oklahoma—have authorised the use of nitrogen gas. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the air. But it is only safe to inhale when mixed with oxygen.
During an execution the inmate breathes pure nitrogen through a mask, causing asphyxiation. Research on death by nitrogen exposure is limited: most of what is recorded in medical journals relates to accidents or suicide attempts. Some studies of oxygen deprivation suggest that it can cause pain similar to that of
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