Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Alabama carries out first US nitrogen gas execution on Kenneth Eugene Smith | BBC News" video.

  1. I'm Australian and a British Journalist looked into the methods that America used. The documentary he made was done more than 10 years ago when there were issues over the lethal injections. It was also at a time when there were a number of ugly murders around the world and people were asking if capital punishment should be brought back. So this was a timely documentary in a number of ways, but most of all - what method. In the end when all the methods were looked at the cleanest and quickest was carbon dioxide. I remember the Lake Nyos disaster in 1986 when 1,700 people died from carbon dioxide asphyxiation remember how quick it was. Most of the bodies only took a few staggered steps before falling over. I'm an engineer and one of the things people are warned about across many industries are what we call "confined spaces." These are places where other gases can pool and the oxygen level is too low to support human consciousness. It can be incredibly dangerous. One of the major risks in confined spaces is carbon dioxide especially in open pits because CO2 is heavier than air and it can pool in the pit. Its well documented how quickly people succumb and pass out in such conditions. So its well known that if you flood a room with carbon dioxide almost any human or animal will past out within seconds and die shortly after with little or no trauma. In fact its well documented that if anything people have a moment of euphoria before passing out from carbon dioxide. WHAT HORRIFIED ME about that documentary wasn't the fact they found a quick way to simply turn off a human life but the RESPONSE of the chief medical officer they presented their findings to. He simply dismissed the idea of using Carbon Dioxide and how its far less likely to be traumatic. He said "Its a punishment its NOT meant to be pleasant."
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