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Affidavit: Arkansas Execution Drugs Meet Potency Requirement

The three drugs Arkansas plans to use to execute eight inmates meet federal potency and purity requirements, according to a laboratory hired by the Arkansas Department of Correction.

Attorneys for the Arkansas attorney general's office submitted an affidavit Wednesday showing the department had hired an FDA-certified pharmaceutical testing laboratory to determine that the midazolam, vecuronium bromide and potassium chloride obtained by the state last year meet federal standards for potency and purity.

The redacted laboratory tests were submitted with the affidavit as part of an ongoing lawsuit by several death row inmates who say the state's execution secrecy law barring disclosure of the drugs' makers and distributors is unconstitutional. The Arkansas Supreme Court has stayed those executions pending the resolution of the inmates' challenge.

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