re: MS wants to bring back firing squads

quote:

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Why don't they use Nitrogen in death penalty cases?

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Often wondered that myself. No physical panic is induced because elevated CO2 levels in the blood, not low O2 levels, are what trigger the brain into panic mode, gasping for breath, etc. With N2, your CO2 levels never elevate while your O2 levels plummet. You just breathe normally until you pass out, then slip into a coma and die never knowing what hit you.

Nitrogen is one of the leading causes of death and casualty (if not the leading) in chemical plants every year and you often see two or three at a time because when one guy goes down, the would-be untrained rescuer trying to save his buddy dies too because nitrogen asphyxiation comes on so quickly. Two or three good breaths of a nitrogen rich environment, and it's all over unless someone can get to you and get you to fresh air before massive brain damage begins occurring.

Of course, the convulsions before death would probably be a big reason it isn't used. A gas chamber is a gas chamber.