Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma signed a bill on Friday that put into effect an alternative method of execution for those on death row. In Oklahoma, nitrogen is now legal to use as an alternative to the standard three injections that are administered today. Advocates of the new execution method maintain that nitrogen-induced hypoxia is a humane and painless method of execution that does not require any medical expertise to perform. Executions are currently on hold in Oklahoma while the U.S. Supreme Court deliberates on whether or not the standard three-injection method is unconstitutional.

Nola.com reports that Fallin made the following statement regarding nitrogen executions: “Oklahoma executes murderers whose crimes are especially heinous…I support that policy, and I believe capital punishment must be performed effectively and without cruelty. The bill I signed today gives the state of Oklahoma another death penalty option that meets that standard.” Critics of the new law are skeptical because there are no previous occurrences of nitrogen being used to execute a human, and the method has just simply not been tested, and is banned in some states for use on animals.

The shift to nitrogen was spurred after a botched execution last year when Oklahoma used a new sedative as the first in the three injections. Officials presiding over the execution tried to stop if after the inmate writhed and moaned on the gurney. He died 43 minutes later. The mishap was blamed on incorrect intravenous placement and it elicited a lawsuit from the other inmates on death row, saying that the current method poses a serious threat of pain and suffering.