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CNN Live At Daybreak

'War Room'; Painkiller Alternatives; Koko Controversy

Aired February 22, 2005 - 05:30   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.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, and welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

A powerful earthquake jilts central Iran, more than 190 people were killed, about 1,000 others injured. The 6.4 magnitude quake sent panicked residents pouring into the streets. Hospital officials say they're maxed out and can't handle any more of the injured.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il says his country is willing to return to those six-party nuclear talks if the United States shows sincerity. Less than two weeks ago, Pyongyang announced it had nuclear weapons and said it would withdraw from those negotiations.

The Supreme Court hears arguments today on the issue of imminent domain. The case centers on seven families in New London, Connecticut. They say the government should not be able to take their homes for a private economic development project.

And police near Dallas, Texas recover an SUV belonging to a missing pregnant woman but not the woman and her 7-year-old son. They have been missing since Saturday. A local Amber Alert has been expanded nationwide.

To the Forecast Center now.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Wow! All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We begin this hour in Brussels, Belgium, where President Bush is reaching out to NATO and to European leaders. He's trying to rebuild ties with nations that opposed the war in Iraq and get them to help out the U.S. in post war rebuilding.

But will the president succeed? A Gallup Poll asked Americans how they think the U.S. rates in the eyes of the world. Forty-eight percent of those polled say they think the U.S. rates favorably. That's way down from the 75 percent who felt the same way when the president first came into office.

When it comes to U.S. ties with France, the leaders of both nations are all smiles. President Bush had dinner with the French leader, Jacques Chirac, who called the U.S.-French relationship excellent. Chirac was one of the strongest opponents of the Iraq war. And he and President Bush had tough words for each other in the run-up to the invasion. But now they're striking a different tune.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Now, President Bush, if indeed relations have improved, if they are indeed now better between France and the United States, are they good enough as yet for that warranted invitation to President Chirac to go to the United States or even to your ranch -- sir?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm looking for a good cowboy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Are you noticing a change in tactics from President Bush, especially when it comes to nations the U.S. considers hostile? That's our question as we enter "The War Room" this morning. The U.S. seems to be taking more of a diplomatic route with Syria than it did with Iraq. And you might be asking yourself why the difference?

So let's ask our senior international editor David Clinch this morning.

Good morning -- David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Hey, Carol, good morning.

Very interesting stuff, really, when you think about it, President Bush and President Chirac of France issuing a joint statement warning Syria about its troop presence in Lebanon. Quite a contrast to before and during the war in Iraq when Chirac and Bush were on opposing ends, and still are, to some extent, in terms of whether the U.S. should have launched military action against Iraq.

The difference is twofold. Nobody right now is talking about military action against Syria or Iran or North Korea. At this point, the U.S. is not talking about that. And so the allies, the French even, and others, the Chinese, are all interested, while the U.S. is not talking about military action, in joining with them to put pressure on North Korea, to put pressure on Syria, to put pressure on Iran.

But the question, of course, that arises is how long will that joint approach take? The U.S. clearly will not, or has stated that it will not accept a nuclear powered Iran. It already is facing what appears to be a nuclear powered North Korea. So the question really becomes not just the relations with the allies in Europe and Asia, but in terms of President Bush and how he presents these problems to the public here at home.

If you remember with Iraq, that was presented as a problem, not just in the international field, but a crisis facing the U.S. here, a crisis related to terrorism and U.S. interest in the world. Those problems with Syria and North Korea and Iran have not yet been communicated to the U.S. public with that same sense of urgency by President Bush.

So diplomacy is what he's talking about in Europe, at the moment. But over a period of time, we're going to be watching very closely to see whether that tone of diplomacy is maintained, particularly when he's home here in the United States and not in Europe talking to allies.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta this morning, thank you.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Vioxx, COX-2 Inhibitors, are you worried some pain medications are too risky? Ahead, relief is just down your hallway, but not in the medicine cabinet. We'll show you some ways to find relief without taking a pill.

Also, new information this morning about what you could pay for an airline ticket.

Plus, why teaching a gorilla to communicate might not have been such a good idea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: While President Bush works to improve relations with Europe, his past has again become an issue here at home. The man who secretly taped the then Governor Bush, hinting that he had used drugs in the past, talked with CNN's Anderson Cooper about what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What are you going to do with these tapes now?

DOUGLAS WEAD, AUTHOR, "THE RAISING OF A PRESIDENT": I believe that -- you know, my initial hope was to record something that would have historical value, but this has become too much. I think I should get the tapes back to him. He was the other person on the line. And they can do whatever they want with them. History can wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But Doug Wead has already written a book called "The Raising of a President." The White House says only that the tapes are of casual conversations Bush was having with someone he thought was a friend.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:41 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The casualty count has been rising through the night following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Iran. Officials now say 190 are dead, 1,000 injured.

In money news, airlines are scaling back or eliminating bereavement rates as part of an effort to revamp pricing strategies. The bereavement fares may not be widely missed because they typically didn't offer big savings anyway.

In culture, a Georgia company has bought Johnny Carson's boyhood home. Historic Properties (ph) says the two-story home in Norfolk, Nebraska will become a memorial of some kind to honor the late entertainer.

In sports, Barry Bonds is scheduled to talk to the media when he arrives at the San Francisco Giants spring training camp later today. It will be the first time he's spoken publicly since his grand jury testimony and the steroid controversy was leaked. And we all know how much Barry Bonds loves the media -- Chad.

MYERS: Well of course, doesn't everybody?

I liked how you said Norfolk, Nebraska, though.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

MYERS: Yes, yes, Johnny Carson's old boyhood home. Not that far from where I grew up.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Want to get to some e-mails right now. Chad, you got some?

MYERS: I do, actually.

COSTELLO: It's a very interesting story.

MYERS: Let me slide over here.

COSTELLO: PBS is going to present a documentary tonight called "A Company of Soldiers," and they're embedded with an Army unit. And I mean things get really raw. They really are up close and personal with the soldiers who are fighting the battle for Falluja. The soldiers use very rough language at times. PBS decided it had to like sanitize this because of the FCC and its new rules, so it's offering a sanitized version of soldiers in battle to some stations and then the raw footage for others.

So we wondered in our e-mail question this morning if you thought the media, in general, is offering a much too sanitized version of what's happening over there in Iraq. So take it away -- Chad. MYERS: I've got a couple here, one from the Bronx. We show the wins and triumph and pride. We show the heroes coming home. On the other side, though, maybe we don't want to know what war is really like. We do edit, but I think it's because we really do not know the true cost of the war.

And then from David (ph), TV, all of TV today is too sanitized. News is for adults. Adults should be able to deal with what is shown.

But unfortunately not only adults are watching our show, obviously children are watching these shows as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's true. It's a very tough decision we make every day about that.

This is from Jerry (ph) from Indiana, Pennsylvania. I think Americans need to see the gruesome realities of war. Perhaps if we see what the true consequences of war tend to be, we might be more reluctant to use military force.

And this is from Sarah (ph) from Long Island, New York. The rest of the world is viewing unedited coverage of the war in Iraq and judging us by it. As a democracy, we must have the truth no matter how painful it is. The news media has a responsibility to present the public with the truth so we all can have a policy we can be proud of.

We'll read more a little later in our show.

MYERS: Well I'm proud of what we show here on CNN, to be really honest.

COSTELLO: It's a difficult decision here.

MYERS: Everybody asks me, did you see more of that? No, no, what we got we showed.

COSTELLO: No, I mean we get terrible video in here...

MYERS: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: ... after suicide bombings.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: And you know we have to pick and choose what we show on television. And you know that's just the news business. Sometimes we make the right decisions, most times, and sometimes we don't because we're...

MYERS: And those verbal warnings, watch, you know, so on and so on. What you're going to see is graphic, we try to do that as much as we can, but, you know, that gets old, too.

COSTELLO: It's an alternative pain medicine that might surprise you. Coming up next on DAYBREAK, you won't find it in your bathroom medicine cabinet. Look elsewhere in your house, like in your refrigerator. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have more on that for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, Bird Flu is described as the single biggest health threat to the world right now. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency warns that officials may not have the tools to fight Bird Flu because vaccine efforts are still focused on garden- variety influenza.

And a message specifically for men, a Harvard study shows exercise may help you prevent Parkinson's Disease. The research looked at 48,000 men and 77,000 women. And the men who engaged in regular vigorous exercise early in life drastically cut their risk of developing the progressive neurological disease. The women showed no such protection.

And fallout from the president's proposed budget. The National Institutes of Health warns it may have to stop some AIDS research and other projects due to the 2006 budget plan. The Bush budget plan calls for a 0.5 percent increase. That's about $163 million.

Now that drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex have been linked to heart attack and strokes, people who suffer with severe pain have a dilemma, take the risk or live with the pain. But there's perhaps an overlooked alternative to the painkillers.

More now from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For most of her life, 47-year-old nurse Roberta Hagen has been in pain, so much pain that she is now unable to work with her patients.

ROBERTA HAGEN, PAIN SUFFERER: I have arthritis of the spine, and it's also compounded by chronic back pain.

GUPTA: To combat the aches, Roberta's doctor prescribed Vioxx, and it worked wonders for her.

HAGEN: When I would run out of a prescription and maybe didn't get it filled immediately, thinking, well, I'm feeling better, immediately, the symptoms would come back.

GUPTA: That drug that worked wonders for Roberta is believed to have also caused thousands of unnecessary heart attacks in other patients. And in September, the manufacturer voluntarily pulled it from the market, leaving Roberta, and many patients like her, in the lurch.

This past week, an FDA Advisory Committee considered the safety of drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex in a three-day hearing, and recommended they stay on the market, but with a clear warning about the possible side effects. So what does that really mean for those who don't want to take the risk? Some experts say the answer may lie not in your medicine cabinet but in your kitchen cabinet.

KATHERINE TALLMADGE, AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION: Diet can profoundly affect inflammation in your body.

GUPTA: And it's that inflammation that causes pain, and may also contribute to heart disease, cancer, dementia and arthritis.

TALLMADGE: It's your immune system at work, and it's a lifesaver. Sometimes, it doesn't turn off.

GUPTA: To reduce that inflammation and the pain, the American Dietetic Association recommends eating more fresh fruits, like strawberries, citrus and melons, any vegetable, nuts, soy and flaxseeds, and the oily fish, like salmon. They also recommend limiting your intake of caffeine, foods high in animal fat and processed foods, especially those high in trans fats, like deep fried foods.

Also, remember that motion can act like lotion. Experts say that at least 30 minutes of daily exercise may also help reduce the pain.

Even though Roberta has already started to include some of these changes into her diet, she, along with millions of others, also hopes that less risky drugs will soon be available to help her pain.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address CNN.com/health.

Here's what's ahead in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

He's using pen and paper to show what life is really like in Iraq and drawing plenty of criticism and danger for it. We'll introduce you to a controversial cartoonist.

Plus another raw look at the war in Iraq. This one a film starring a company of U.S. soldiers on the front line.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: You've heard of Koko the gorilla. Well Koko knows more than 1,000 words in sign language. But communicating with Koko may have taken a turn for the worse. Now two former caretakers have filed suit for sexual discrimination.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's bad enough when guys act like gorillas, but imagine being told to display your breasts to a female ape.

DR. PENNY PATTERSON, TAUGHT KOKO SIGN LANGUAGE: Nipple. Nipple have Koko's love.

MOOS: Koko, the ape famous for apparently having learned American Sign Language, is at the center of a lawsuit. Two female employees of the Gorilla Foundation say they were ordered to bond with Koko by displaying their breasts.

STEPHEN SOMMERS, FORMER EMPLOYEES' ATTORNEY: At first it was just shock, like, oh my God, I can't believe that just happens. And the third time it was like if I don't do this, I'm going to get fired.

MOOS: This is far from Koko's first brush with fame. Dr. Penny Patterson began teaching Koko sign language when the ape was a year old.

PATTERSON: Can you blow?

MOOS: She's 33 now and is said to have mastered more than 1,000 signs.

(on camera): Here at Koko's Web site, there's a section where you can learn to sign with Koko. It includes 48 of her favorite signs. Breast is not among them.

(voice-over): The lawsuit alleges Koko has a nipple fetish.

SOMMERS: Dr. Patterson would say something along the lines of, "oh, Koko, you get to see my breasts all the time. Maybe Nancy will show you her breasts."

MOOS: But Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller refused. Their dismissal came after the pair reported sanitary violations to authorities. Talk about sanitary.

PATTERSON: Koko, here's a napkin, your chin has something on it. That's your eye.

MOOS: The Gorilla Foundation denies the allegations, saying "to manipulate a purported employment issue and miscast it purely for publicity purposes is particularly hurtful..."

At least the former employees didn't respond to the breast overtures like Charlton Heston did.

CHARLTON HESTON, ACTOR: Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

MOOS: Newscasters in nearby San Francisco couldn't keep a straight face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... who takes care of Koko, denies this charge.

MOOS: And to think the country went ape over Janet Jackson's exposure. What's Koko into next, making X-rated videos?

PATTERSON: Hold it. Hold it carefully.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: There you have it. No need to comment further on that story.

MYERS: No.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired February 22, 2005 - 05:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, and welcome to the second half-hour of DAYBREAK. From the Time Warner Center in New York, I'm Carol Costello, along with Chad Myers.
"Now in the News."

A powerful earthquake jilts central Iran, more than 190 people were killed, about 1,000 others injured. The 6.4 magnitude quake sent panicked residents pouring into the streets. Hospital officials say they're maxed out and can't handle any more of the injured.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il says his country is willing to return to those six-party nuclear talks if the United States shows sincerity. Less than two weeks ago, Pyongyang announced it had nuclear weapons and said it would withdraw from those negotiations.

The Supreme Court hears arguments today on the issue of imminent domain. The case centers on seven families in New London, Connecticut. They say the government should not be able to take their homes for a private economic development project.

And police near Dallas, Texas recover an SUV belonging to a missing pregnant woman but not the woman and her 7-year-old son. They have been missing since Saturday. A local Amber Alert has been expanded nationwide.

To the Forecast Center now.

Good morning -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, Carol.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Wow! All right, thank you -- Chad.

MYERS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: We begin this hour in Brussels, Belgium, where President Bush is reaching out to NATO and to European leaders. He's trying to rebuild ties with nations that opposed the war in Iraq and get them to help out the U.S. in post war rebuilding.

But will the president succeed? A Gallup Poll asked Americans how they think the U.S. rates in the eyes of the world. Forty-eight percent of those polled say they think the U.S. rates favorably. That's way down from the 75 percent who felt the same way when the president first came into office.

When it comes to U.S. ties with France, the leaders of both nations are all smiles. President Bush had dinner with the French leader, Jacques Chirac, who called the U.S.-French relationship excellent. Chirac was one of the strongest opponents of the Iraq war. And he and President Bush had tough words for each other in the run-up to the invasion. But now they're striking a different tune.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Now, President Bush, if indeed relations have improved, if they are indeed now better between France and the United States, are they good enough as yet for that warranted invitation to President Chirac to go to the United States or even to your ranch -- sir?

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm looking for a good cowboy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Are you noticing a change in tactics from President Bush, especially when it comes to nations the U.S. considers hostile? That's our question as we enter "The War Room" this morning. The U.S. seems to be taking more of a diplomatic route with Syria than it did with Iraq. And you might be asking yourself why the difference?

So let's ask our senior international editor David Clinch this morning.

Good morning -- David.

DAVID CLINCH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL EDITOR: Hey, Carol, good morning.

Very interesting stuff, really, when you think about it, President Bush and President Chirac of France issuing a joint statement warning Syria about its troop presence in Lebanon. Quite a contrast to before and during the war in Iraq when Chirac and Bush were on opposing ends, and still are, to some extent, in terms of whether the U.S. should have launched military action against Iraq.

The difference is twofold. Nobody right now is talking about military action against Syria or Iran or North Korea. At this point, the U.S. is not talking about that. And so the allies, the French even, and others, the Chinese, are all interested, while the U.S. is not talking about military action, in joining with them to put pressure on North Korea, to put pressure on Syria, to put pressure on Iran.

But the question, of course, that arises is how long will that joint approach take? The U.S. clearly will not, or has stated that it will not accept a nuclear powered Iran. It already is facing what appears to be a nuclear powered North Korea. So the question really becomes not just the relations with the allies in Europe and Asia, but in terms of President Bush and how he presents these problems to the public here at home.

If you remember with Iraq, that was presented as a problem, not just in the international field, but a crisis facing the U.S. here, a crisis related to terrorism and U.S. interest in the world. Those problems with Syria and North Korea and Iran have not yet been communicated to the U.S. public with that same sense of urgency by President Bush.

So diplomacy is what he's talking about in Europe, at the moment. But over a period of time, we're going to be watching very closely to see whether that tone of diplomacy is maintained, particularly when he's home here in the United States and not in Europe talking to allies.

COSTELLO: David Clinch, live in Atlanta this morning, thank you.

Still to come on DAYBREAK, Vioxx, COX-2 Inhibitors, are you worried some pain medications are too risky? Ahead, relief is just down your hallway, but not in the medicine cabinet. We'll show you some ways to find relief without taking a pill.

Also, new information this morning about what you could pay for an airline ticket.

Plus, why teaching a gorilla to communicate might not have been such a good idea.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: While President Bush works to improve relations with Europe, his past has again become an issue here at home. The man who secretly taped the then Governor Bush, hinting that he had used drugs in the past, talked with CNN's Anderson Cooper about what's next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: What are you going to do with these tapes now?

DOUGLAS WEAD, AUTHOR, "THE RAISING OF A PRESIDENT": I believe that -- you know, my initial hope was to record something that would have historical value, but this has become too much. I think I should get the tapes back to him. He was the other person on the line. And they can do whatever they want with them. History can wait.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But Doug Wead has already written a book called "The Raising of a President." The White House says only that the tapes are of casual conversations Bush was having with someone he thought was a friend.

Your news, money, weather and sports. It's 5:41 Eastern. Here's what's all new this morning.

The casualty count has been rising through the night following a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in Iran. Officials now say 190 are dead, 1,000 injured.

In money news, airlines are scaling back or eliminating bereavement rates as part of an effort to revamp pricing strategies. The bereavement fares may not be widely missed because they typically didn't offer big savings anyway.

In culture, a Georgia company has bought Johnny Carson's boyhood home. Historic Properties (ph) says the two-story home in Norfolk, Nebraska will become a memorial of some kind to honor the late entertainer.

In sports, Barry Bonds is scheduled to talk to the media when he arrives at the San Francisco Giants spring training camp later today. It will be the first time he's spoken publicly since his grand jury testimony and the steroid controversy was leaked. And we all know how much Barry Bonds loves the media -- Chad.

MYERS: Well of course, doesn't everybody?

I liked how you said Norfolk, Nebraska, though.

COSTELLO: Thank you.

MYERS: Yes, yes, Johnny Carson's old boyhood home. Not that far from where I grew up.

Good morning, everybody.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Carol, back to you.

COSTELLO: All right, those are the latest headlines for you this morning.

Want to get to some e-mails right now. Chad, you got some?

MYERS: I do, actually.

COSTELLO: It's a very interesting story.

MYERS: Let me slide over here.

COSTELLO: PBS is going to present a documentary tonight called "A Company of Soldiers," and they're embedded with an Army unit. And I mean things get really raw. They really are up close and personal with the soldiers who are fighting the battle for Falluja. The soldiers use very rough language at times. PBS decided it had to like sanitize this because of the FCC and its new rules, so it's offering a sanitized version of soldiers in battle to some stations and then the raw footage for others.

So we wondered in our e-mail question this morning if you thought the media, in general, is offering a much too sanitized version of what's happening over there in Iraq. So take it away -- Chad. MYERS: I've got a couple here, one from the Bronx. We show the wins and triumph and pride. We show the heroes coming home. On the other side, though, maybe we don't want to know what war is really like. We do edit, but I think it's because we really do not know the true cost of the war.

And then from David (ph), TV, all of TV today is too sanitized. News is for adults. Adults should be able to deal with what is shown.

But unfortunately not only adults are watching our show, obviously children are watching these shows as well -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's true. It's a very tough decision we make every day about that.

This is from Jerry (ph) from Indiana, Pennsylvania. I think Americans need to see the gruesome realities of war. Perhaps if we see what the true consequences of war tend to be, we might be more reluctant to use military force.

And this is from Sarah (ph) from Long Island, New York. The rest of the world is viewing unedited coverage of the war in Iraq and judging us by it. As a democracy, we must have the truth no matter how painful it is. The news media has a responsibility to present the public with the truth so we all can have a policy we can be proud of.

We'll read more a little later in our show.

MYERS: Well I'm proud of what we show here on CNN, to be really honest.

COSTELLO: It's a difficult decision here.

MYERS: Everybody asks me, did you see more of that? No, no, what we got we showed.

COSTELLO: No, I mean we get terrible video in here...

MYERS: Absolutely.

COSTELLO: ... after suicide bombings.

MYERS: Sure.

COSTELLO: And you know we have to pick and choose what we show on television. And you know that's just the news business. Sometimes we make the right decisions, most times, and sometimes we don't because we're...

MYERS: And those verbal warnings, watch, you know, so on and so on. What you're going to see is graphic, we try to do that as much as we can, but, you know, that gets old, too.

COSTELLO: It's an alternative pain medicine that might surprise you. Coming up next on DAYBREAK, you won't find it in your bathroom medicine cabinet. Look elsewhere in your house, like in your refrigerator. Dr. Sanjay Gupta will have more on that for you.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: In "Health Headlines" for you this morning, Bird Flu is described as the single biggest health threat to the world right now. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The agency warns that officials may not have the tools to fight Bird Flu because vaccine efforts are still focused on garden- variety influenza.

And a message specifically for men, a Harvard study shows exercise may help you prevent Parkinson's Disease. The research looked at 48,000 men and 77,000 women. And the men who engaged in regular vigorous exercise early in life drastically cut their risk of developing the progressive neurological disease. The women showed no such protection.

And fallout from the president's proposed budget. The National Institutes of Health warns it may have to stop some AIDS research and other projects due to the 2006 budget plan. The Bush budget plan calls for a 0.5 percent increase. That's about $163 million.

Now that drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex have been linked to heart attack and strokes, people who suffer with severe pain have a dilemma, take the risk or live with the pain. But there's perhaps an overlooked alternative to the painkillers.

More now from CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For most of her life, 47-year-old nurse Roberta Hagen has been in pain, so much pain that she is now unable to work with her patients.

ROBERTA HAGEN, PAIN SUFFERER: I have arthritis of the spine, and it's also compounded by chronic back pain.

GUPTA: To combat the aches, Roberta's doctor prescribed Vioxx, and it worked wonders for her.

HAGEN: When I would run out of a prescription and maybe didn't get it filled immediately, thinking, well, I'm feeling better, immediately, the symptoms would come back.

GUPTA: That drug that worked wonders for Roberta is believed to have also caused thousands of unnecessary heart attacks in other patients. And in September, the manufacturer voluntarily pulled it from the market, leaving Roberta, and many patients like her, in the lurch.

This past week, an FDA Advisory Committee considered the safety of drugs like Vioxx and Celebrex in a three-day hearing, and recommended they stay on the market, but with a clear warning about the possible side effects. So what does that really mean for those who don't want to take the risk? Some experts say the answer may lie not in your medicine cabinet but in your kitchen cabinet.

KATHERINE TALLMADGE, AMERICAN DIETETIC ASSOCIATION: Diet can profoundly affect inflammation in your body.

GUPTA: And it's that inflammation that causes pain, and may also contribute to heart disease, cancer, dementia and arthritis.

TALLMADGE: It's your immune system at work, and it's a lifesaver. Sometimes, it doesn't turn off.

GUPTA: To reduce that inflammation and the pain, the American Dietetic Association recommends eating more fresh fruits, like strawberries, citrus and melons, any vegetable, nuts, soy and flaxseeds, and the oily fish, like salmon. They also recommend limiting your intake of caffeine, foods high in animal fat and processed foods, especially those high in trans fats, like deep fried foods.

Also, remember that motion can act like lotion. Experts say that at least 30 minutes of daily exercise may also help reduce the pain.

Even though Roberta has already started to include some of these changes into her diet, she, along with millions of others, also hopes that less risky drugs will soon be available to help her pain.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: For more on this or any other health story, head to our Web site. The address CNN.com/health.

Here's what's ahead in the next hour of DAYBREAK.

He's using pen and paper to show what life is really like in Iraq and drawing plenty of criticism and danger for it. We'll introduce you to a controversial cartoonist.

Plus another raw look at the war in Iraq. This one a film starring a company of U.S. soldiers on the front line.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: You've heard of Koko the gorilla. Well Koko knows more than 1,000 words in sign language. But communicating with Koko may have taken a turn for the worse. Now two former caretakers have filed suit for sexual discrimination.

CNN's Jeanne Moos has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's bad enough when guys act like gorillas, but imagine being told to display your breasts to a female ape.

DR. PENNY PATTERSON, TAUGHT KOKO SIGN LANGUAGE: Nipple. Nipple have Koko's love.

MOOS: Koko, the ape famous for apparently having learned American Sign Language, is at the center of a lawsuit. Two female employees of the Gorilla Foundation say they were ordered to bond with Koko by displaying their breasts.

STEPHEN SOMMERS, FORMER EMPLOYEES' ATTORNEY: At first it was just shock, like, oh my God, I can't believe that just happens. And the third time it was like if I don't do this, I'm going to get fired.

MOOS: This is far from Koko's first brush with fame. Dr. Penny Patterson began teaching Koko sign language when the ape was a year old.

PATTERSON: Can you blow?

MOOS: She's 33 now and is said to have mastered more than 1,000 signs.

(on camera): Here at Koko's Web site, there's a section where you can learn to sign with Koko. It includes 48 of her favorite signs. Breast is not among them.

(voice-over): The lawsuit alleges Koko has a nipple fetish.

SOMMERS: Dr. Patterson would say something along the lines of, "oh, Koko, you get to see my breasts all the time. Maybe Nancy will show you her breasts."

MOOS: But Nancy Alperin and Kendra Keller refused. Their dismissal came after the pair reported sanitary violations to authorities. Talk about sanitary.

PATTERSON: Koko, here's a napkin, your chin has something on it. That's your eye.

MOOS: The Gorilla Foundation denies the allegations, saying "to manipulate a purported employment issue and miscast it purely for publicity purposes is particularly hurtful..."

At least the former employees didn't respond to the breast overtures like Charlton Heston did.

CHARLTON HESTON, ACTOR: Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!

MOOS: Newscasters in nearby San Francisco couldn't keep a straight face.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: ... who takes care of Koko, denies this charge.

MOOS: And to think the country went ape over Janet Jackson's exposure. What's Koko into next, making X-rated videos?

PATTERSON: Hold it. Hold it carefully.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: There you have it. No need to comment further on that story.

MYERS: No.

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