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Is U.S. Prepared to Deal With Dirty Bombs?

Aired June 10, 2002 - 14:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We turn now to another crucial question as we continue our focus here on the dirty bomb prospect; the idea of someone setting off some sort of explosive that's laced with radioactive material. Is the U.S. prepared to deal with one of these devices exploding?

Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is checking in. She has been looking at that all morning. What have you found?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what I found, actually, is that the most important things that you can do in case there were to be this kind of an explosion are before you even get to a hospital.

HARRIS: Is that right?

COHEN: Yes. It's really interesting. The hospitals are supposed to be prepared to deal with this. But the important stuff comes first. Let's go over some of what it is, because it's actually pretty simple.

If there has been a dirty bomb, a bomb that emits some kind of radiation, the first thing that you're supposed to do is take off your clothes. That may sound strange, but the reason is, is that if there has been any kind of radiation that's gotten on your clothing, or dirt that has gotten on your clothing, you want that off. And once you've taken it off, that is actually a huge step. Because you have removed that surface where the radiation might have gotten onto.

The second thing that you're supposed to do is wash up, preferably a shower. If not, wash hands and face and other areas that might not have been protected by the clothing. Hospitals, in fact, if people come running to a hospital if there were to be a dirty bomb, the first thing they would do is tell you, you can't come in here. And they will theoretically have set up stations outside the hospital to do the kind of decontamination that I was talking about.

The other thing that's very important is if you feel that you're at risk for any reason, if there's been any kind of a dirty bomb with radiation, this is called an N, like Nancy, 95 mask. The number is important, because not all masks do the same thing.

Now, this mask I found just down the hall from my desk, from my office, because CNN, like other large companies, I would hope, have these ready in case there were -- they're probably not thinking of dirty bombs, but a chemical kind of attack, or any kind of accident that you're supposed to put this on this. And this would keep you from inhaling the radiation.

So, clothes off, wash up, use an N-95 mask.

HARRIS: Let me see this. It doesn't -- it feels a lot thicker than most of the other masks.

COHEN: Oh, yes. It's not something that you just buy, that you see surgeons wearing. That's not it. This is different. This is for chemical or radiation or biological.

HARRIS: Let me ask you something specifically about the hospitals. Miles O'Brien and I were talking last hour, and we were wondering how many hospitals are equipped to handle something like that, an outbreak of radiation, if there was a dirty bomb or whatever?

One report I had seen said that there was really only one hospital in the country that was actually set up right now to handle that sort of thing.

COHEN: Well, that's not completely right. There' s a difference between hospitals that have sort of set up an area that is exclusively for that, or that specialize in that.

All hospitals, if they're accredited hospitals, are supposed to be equipped to deal with this kind of emergency, or with a chemical or with a biological attack. Some obviously are going to be better than others. I mean, you would expect that large, urban hospitals would have had training programs for their doctors and their nurses, where smaller, rural ones may not have had that ability to have those training programs.

But all hospitals are supposed to be able to deal with them. Granted, of course, not all of them are. I mean, not all of them have had the kind of training they're supposed to. Whether or not they can deal with it, well, we really don't know because there hasn't been that kind of attack.

God forbid, if they were an attack today, how many hospitals would deal with it well? We don't know. It's never happened. But they're supposed to have had the kind of training that would allow them to deal with it.

HARRIS: One last question. You say taking off your clothes is the first thing to do. I would imagine that's what radiation is for, using X-rays and whatnot, that they penetrate clothing. Wouldn't any radiation you get exposed to go through your clothing anyway?

COHEN: That could happen. However, it is helpful still to take off the clothes. And it all depends on the proximity. If a bomb were to go off, God forbid, right between you and me, I mean, shrapnel would go into us and radiation would get in through the shrapnel.

But if you're talking about people much farther away, taking off the clothes really is a huge step.

HARRIS: Got you. Now, where are these masks at?

COHEN: Down the hall. Right down there. I'll show you later.

HARRIS: News to me too.

COHEN: They're there.

HARRIS: All right, thanks. See you later on, partner.

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