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FDA Issues Toothpaste Warning; Tuberculosis Patient Apologizes; Jack Kevorkian Released
Aired June 01, 2007 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Georgia Aquarium is welcoming its newest residents. Take a look, two young whale sharks from Taiwan.
Their arrival comes just four months after the death of Ralph, the aquarium's prize whale shark. Altogether, five whale sharks will now be on display at the aquarium. Folks there say the 6 million gallon tank should be roomy enough for all of them. Whale sharks are the world's largest fish, growing up to 40 feet long.
The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm T.J. Holmes, in today for Don Lemon.
Ducking and covering in the Midwest -- more bad weather and a threat of tornadoes. We will bring you the latest from our Severe Weather Center.
PHILLIPS: A friend steps up just when Andrew Speaker needs one. We are going to talk with his former law school roommate.
You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
HOLMES: We do want to start this hour, though, by going to check in with our Bonnie Schneider in the Severe Weather Center. We have got tornado -- tornado watches and warnings, all kinds of stuff still popping in the Midwest this hour.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right, T.J.
And this one just came in as you were just reading the introduction to me. We have a tornado warning for Jackson County in east central Iowa now until 2:45 p.m. And that's Central time. You can see it here just to the north of the Maquita (ph) area.
And it's interesting to not that we have had these tornadoes pop up further to the south as well. So, widespread area of severe weather we're watching in Iowa and into Illinois.
Here's a better look at the perspective in the storms. Look at these heavy storms. These are reporting wind gusts as strong as 70 miles per hour, lots of lightning associated with this system. And, in this city right here, where it's not raining right now -- you can see it right here, Muscatine -- reported debris flying about.
And numerous weather-spotters actually spotted tornadoes on the ground. So, this is a serious situation. There's a tornado watch in effect that stretches northward, all the way up into Wisconsin, down through Iowa, and then back out towards Illinois.
This tornado watch will be in effect until 7:00 p.m. tonight, because the weather here is getting worse. What you are looking at right here, this is real-time lightning strikes happening before our eyes, so, a very serious situation right here into the Davenport area, further to the north, as well. We will be monitoring this throughout the day for you -- T.J.
HOLMES: We sure do appreciate it. Bonnie Schneider, for us in the Severe Weather Center, thank you so much.
PHILLIPS: The man at the center of an international tuberculosis scare says that he's sorry. Thirty-one-year-old Atlanta lawyer Andrew Speaker gave his first television interview to ABC's Diane Sawyer.
Speaker flew to Europe and back to North America, even though he has a drug-resistant form of T.B. He says he's sorry that he put his fellow passengers at risk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "GOOD MORNING AMERICA")
ANDREW SPEAKER, TUBERCULOSIS PATIENT: I don't expect those people to ever forgive me. I just hope they understand that I truly never meant to put them at harm. I never meant to hurt their families or them.
And I just hope they -- they can find a way to forgive me for putting them in harm, because I didn't mean to.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Speaker says that health officials originally told him he was no threat and that he has tape-recorded that conversation. Georgia law allows such recording if it's done by a person involved in the conversation.
Andrew Speaker is at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver, Colorado, which specializes in treating drug- resistant forms of T.B.
CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us there live.
Ed, what's the latest?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, in about half-an- hour, the doctors here who have been working with Andrew Speaker will hold another press briefing.
We hope to learn some of the results from the C.T. scan and the lung scan that was done yesterday afternoon, in large part because those doctors are saying that those tests is -- is -- is what's going to give them the best opportunity and the best way of figuring out how to treat the infection, the bacteria infection, that Andrew Speaker has.
Those tests will give them a better indication of just how infected the lung is. And, at one point, they will discuss a cocktail of antibiotics that -- no question that Andrew Speaker will have to take very powerful antibiotics. But question of surgery is still out there and whether or not that will happen.
Doctors addressed that yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. GWEN HUITT, ADULT INFECTIOUS DISEASE UNIT DIRECTOR, NATIONAL JEWISH MEDICAL AND RESEARCH CENTER: We will be evaluating how he's responding to the antibiotics. And, then, as the next probably days to a week or so go on, we will be likely evaluating whether he should be a candidate for surgery.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: Andrew Speaker's stay here at the National Jewish Medical Center in Denver will likely last weeks, if not months. One doctor even said it could last -- last up to six months, depending on how quickly the doctors here can figure out the best way of treating this infection.
But, despite all of this, doctors here continue to say that Andrew Speaker is doing well, that he is not showing any signs of being highly infectious. And that is the good news from here. And we anticipate to hear a little bit more here from this press briefing that is scheduled to begin in about half-an-hour -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Ed, thanks so much.
And, just as Ed mentioned, that the hospital speaking Andrew Speaker has scheduled that news conference for about 3:30 p.m. Eastern. We will take it live as soon as it happens. And we will get Ed to debrief us as well.
HOLMES: Well, eight years-plus of prison time behind him, Jack Kevorkian breathed his first free air today since a murder conviction for helping a man with Lou Gehrig's disease end his own life.
The question now, what's next for the man nicknamed Dr. Death?
Our Brianna Keilar joins us now from Washington with maybe some answers here for us.
Hello to you, Brianna.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, T.J.
Yes, Kevorkian was released after serving more than eight years of a 10- to 25-year sentence. He told the parole board there in Michigan that, while he would remain an advocate for physician- assisted suicide, he wouldn't physically -- he wasn't actually conduct any of these physician-assisted suicides.
Now, he has to keep that promise if he wants to stay out of jail. He did speak briefly with reporters this morning, telling them how he felt about getting out of prison.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACK KEVORKIAN, CONVICTED OF SECOND-DEGREE MURDER: One of the high points in life.
Sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
QUESTION: How are you feeling?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Kevorkian was convicted of second-degree murder, as well as the illegal delivery of a controlled substance. This was in connection with the 1998 death of Thomas Youk.
As you said before, T.J., Thomas Youk was suffering from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. And his physical abilities had deteriorated so much that he wasn't able to press the button on Dr. Kevorkian's death machine.
So, Kevorkian physically administered the lethal injection himself. He videotaped this death. This death aired in a piece on CBS News' "60 Minutes." And it was also eventually shown to a jury. That would prove to be his undoing. He was convicted in 1999.
And, even though Thomas Youk's wife said that, really, this was something her husband wanted and that he was very grateful for Dr. Kevorkian's assistance, unlike Thomas Youk, there were some people that Kevorkian helped, according -- he said he helped them. And these were -- some of these people were not terminally ill.
And even, T.J., some of these advocates of physician-assisted suicide said, really, Kevorkian did a lot to hurt their cause, rather than help it.
HOLMES: All right. And he claims now, he's certainly not going to help people in the future, is what we're hearing. So, if he's not going to do that, what is he going to do? What are his future plans?
KEILAR: Well, this is what's kind of interesting.
Of course, Kevorkian is 79 years old. He's very old. He's in poor health. And we haven't heard from him yet.
But we did hear on CNN earlier from the attorney who defended him so many times in court, Geoffrey Fieger. And he said what he would expect is that Kevorkian will play by the rules for a couple of years, that he will not take part in any physician-assisted suicides. But he said -- again, this is not from Jack Kevorkian. This is from Geoffrey Fieger, the attorney. He said, after that, he would expect that Kevorkian would, as he put it, help anyone who needed help or who came to him. Of course, people who would go through -- he said there's a very stringent screening process for this.
HOLMES: All right. Our Brianna Keilar for us in Washington -- Brianna, thank you so much.
And, just days after his release from prison, Jack Kevorkian sits down with Larry King. Will the man known as Dr. Death help someone commit suicide yet again? That's the big question now. You can find out on "LARRY KING LIVE." That's Monday night at 9:00 Eastern right here on CNN.
PHILLIPS: One of President Bush's closest advisers is stepping down. Independence Day will be Dan Bartlett's last day as counselor to the president.
Bartlett says he needs more time to be a father to his three young sons -- they're all under 4 years old -- and to begin a career outside government. Bartlett has work for Mr. Bush for nearly 14 years, since his first campaign for governor of Texas -- no word yet on a possible replacement.
A firm statement today from the president of the United States to the governor of Iran -- he wants four U.S. citizens who are either jailed or detained there to be released.
One of them is a woman, Haleh Esfandiari. She is a D.C.-based scholar with dual U.S. and Iranian citizenship. Tehran officials formally charged her this week with trying to topple the government. The three others detained in Iran also are scholars or activists.
These words from the president today: "I strongly condemn their detention at the hands of Iranian authorities. They should be freed immediately and unconditionally."
The president also mentioned the mysterious disappearance of Robert Levinson. He's a retired FBI agent who vanished from an Iranian resort island in early March. The Iranian government says it has no knowledge about Levinson.
HOLMES: The man at the center of an international tuberculosis scare says he's sorry.
Speaker flew -- Andrew Speaker, he flew to Europe and back to North America, even knowing he has a drug-resistant form of T.B. -- T.B.
Well, Dave Rich is a friend of Andrew Speaker. And he joins us now from Nashville, Tennessee.
Sir, we appreciate you giving us some time here. I know you are not exactly excited about some of the things being said about your friend out there. So, appreciate you being here to speak on his behalf and tell us what you know about him.
First, can you clear something up for us? We understand he was going over to Europe to get married. Now some questions about whether or not the wedding even took place -- wire reports saying that the wedding did not take place because of -- some paperwork wasn't in order.
What is the story? Did he or did he not get married?
DAVE RICH, FRIEND OF TUBERCULOSIS PATIENT ANDREW SPEAKER: Well, T.J., I appreciate you for having me this afternoon.
I actually have not heard this report. I believe it's just come over the wire. So, I am not familiar with that. To my understanding, Drew -- and that's how we know him.
HOLMES: Yes, sir.
RICH: Drew went overseas to get married to Sarah. And, for -- from my -- from my understanding, that marriage took place.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: OK.
Did you talk to him right before he left on this trip?
RICH: I did.
I talked to him a little bit in advance of the trip. We -- he -- he left. And, so, we have been in contact throughout.
HOLMES: What was your understanding or -- and, from hearing from him, of what his condition was? Did he tell you that he was sick, had been diagnosed with T.B.?
RICH: We all understood that Drew had been diagnosed with T.B. But, as, obviously, tuberculosis and that condition, the -- the stigma that's associated with it is -- it was a private condition. We all knew that he was under treatment for tuberculosis, and that -- tuberculosis -- and that he had been diagnosed back in January.
But, to the extent of his T.B., I believe he didn't know at that time how extensive it was.
HOLMES: Did -- so, he didn't have any fears leaving, one, about his own health? Sure, it's something needs to be taken care of. But he wasn't really concerned, if you will, about his -- his health? And, also, he certainly wasn't concerned, would you say, about infecting anybody else?
RICH: Certainly, I -- I believe that nobody really understood what his condition was, including Drew. But, again, you know, I -- the details of his tuberculosis condition, I was not informed of, and I don't believe that Drew knew as well. HOLMES: How did you find out? When the stories started to come across wires, newspaper reports, and breaking news stories and here and there, did you -- did it hit in the back of your head, oh, my goodness, they're talking about my friend, or did you know ahead of that -- that, already, that the -- the authorities were after him?
RICH: Well, I -- I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together.
I mean, when -- when I heard that there was a gentleman in Atlanta who had tuberculosis...
HOLMES: Yes.
RICH: ... that narrowed it down a little bit. But, then, when I found out that a gentleman in Atlanta had returned from Greece, I said that, if this is someone else, the circumstances are just fantastic.
HOLMES: Yes.
RICH: So, obviously, I didn't think it was a coincidence.
(CROSSTALK)
RICH: I figured it was Drew.
HOLMES: And last -- last here, if -- if we all do believe him -- and he says he -- he had no idea that he was that contagious -- he -- know he got the call while he was over in Europe that he should turn himself in -- do you think he acted irresponsibly by not stopping right then, and -- and doing what he was told, and going to authorities?
RICH: Well, T.J., I really -- I -- I don't really want to get involved into the underlying case, because, again, facts are coming out at all times.
I can only tell you this, that, in my time of knowing Drew -- he's a close friend of mien -- I know him to be a truthful and honest individual. I know him to not -- to be somewhat selfless, and to be an upstanding member of the community.
So, when he says that he didn't know that, I trust him. But, again, I -- to the certain facts and circumstances of exactly what took place overseas, I can't state that, as I was not involved.
HOLMES: All right.
Well, Dave Rich, a good friend of Drew, as you call him, Drew Speaker, sir, we appreciate you -- you giving us some time today to talk about your friend. And I'm sure we will hear a lot more about it.
Thank you so much.
RICH: Thank you for having me, T.J. PHILLIPS: Hurricane season 2007 is off and running. And so are the hurricane hunters. Buckle up. The NEWSROOM is taking you on a bit of a bumpy ride -- coming up next.
HOLMES: And he can spell words that can stump adults many times his age. So, what's the secret of his success? You will hear from this year's champion speller just a little later here in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Three-fifteen here in the CNN NEWSROOM, and here are three of the stories we're working on this hour.
The T.B. patient who flew from the United States to Europe says he's sorry he may have exposed his fellow passengers. He says health officials did not warn him of the risk, and he says he has tape to prove it. We will get more from that hospital in Denver in a live news conference at the bottom of the hour.
Well, renewed fighting today outside a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon. At least two Lebanese soldiers are dead in that fighting.
And several construction workers were injured today outside Minneapolis when the building they were working on collapsed. One of them was trapped in the rubble for about 45 minutes.
PHILLIPS: Well, watch out for Barry, Chantal, Dean, and maybe more. It's June 1, the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. And federal forecasters predict there will be 13 to 17 named storms this year; seven to 10 will become hurricanes, with three of five of those growing to Category 3 or greater.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, says it's ready for a busy six months.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID PAULISON, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY: I am very comfortable where we are. I'm very comfortable that we are ready for this hurricane season. We have good communications plans in place. We have prepositioned supplies across the Gulf Coast and up the Atlantic Coast.
We're ready to pre-deploy as soon as we do get a hurricane, and, again, making sure that we have these open lines of communication with the states, so we know what those needs are and we can work together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now, even though today marks the official start to the season, Andrea couldn't wait. The tropical storm formed in early May off the East Coast, and it didn't make landfall.
We had a mild season last year. And forecasters worry that's made many of us complacent. Some of the worst hurricane seasons on record happened only two and three years ago. And people in Punta Gorda, Florida, know that all too well. For them, there's no good time Charley.
CNN meteorologist Chad Myers takes a look at lessons learned in 2004.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: A little less three years ago, Hurricane Charley moved right across Charlotte County, Florida, as it came across the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 4 hurricane, and right across Punta Gorda.
The place was a disaster area, literally. Eleven of the 13 homes I'm standing around now had to be torn down. Only two of the existing structures still remain. Anything built before 1992, a lot of damage -- after 1992, after Hurricane Andrew reset the standards for manufactured homes, well, a lot of those homes are still here. They made it through the storm.
I asked Wayne Sallade, the emergency manager of this county, what was his saddest moment of that storm?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAYNE SALLADE, CHARLOTTE COUNTY, FLORIDA, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT DIRECTOR: I resent -- and I know this sounds callous, but I resent people today dying in a hurricane. There's no excuse.
An earthquake in California that comes in the middle of the night, you're going to have fatalities. But a hurricane, which sits out in the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico, and mocks you? We give them a name. And they look at you and they say, hey, if you don't do something to prepare for me, I'm going to come kill you.
And, yet, people continue to disregard the advice that we give them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MYERS: To be honest, for only four people to lose lives in that storm was probably a miracle.
The storm destroyed 11,000 homes -- 5,500 were manufactured homes -- destroyed six schools, four fire stations, and took the roofs off three hospitals. Well, Charlotte County is back on its feet. Punta Gorda is back up and running again, and the place looks great, people working hard to put their lives back together. And they have done it.
Chad Myers, CNN, (r)MD-BO¯Charlotte County, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, we want to give you some information we're just getting here about an incident at a Baltimore prison.
Specifically, it's called the Metropolitan Transition Center. It is on lockdown right now because of an incident that took place there not too long ago. Apparently, there was a fight that broke out among the inmates around 1:30 Eastern time.
Now, after this fight, it left several injuries with -- from inmates. And some of those inmates, we understand from a spokesperson, had stab wounds in the upper torso. We don't know much more than that.
Also, we do -- do know that no staff apparently were hurt in this incident. But, right now, the entire facility is on lockdown, the Metropolitan Transition Center locked down. We do understand the situation is under control, but we do know that there are some stab wounds, according to spokespeople there, stab wounds in the upper torso to some people involved, some of the inmates involved at a fight at this prison in Baltimore.
We will monitor the situation for more information, bring it to you as we get it.
PHILLIPS: Well, he can spell words that can stump adults many times his age. So, what's the secret of his success? Hear from this year's champion speller just a little later in the NEWSROOM.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Get straight to Bonnie Schneider, severe weather across the country.
First, we were talking about tornado warnings. Now you are actually seeing damage, Bonnie?
SCHNEIDER: Yes, we're getting reports. This comes from the Storm Prediction Center. They put out storm reports from officials in the area.
And we have been talking about Muscatine County and Louisa County. In the city of Grandview, there have been reports of several damages to home in that city, and also overturned tractor trailers in the city of Muscatine, several injuries, as well. This is all coming into us right now. So, we're kind of gathering the data for you.
We have a tornado warning that goes for about another 20 minutes for Jackson County. That's right on the border there with Iowa, on into Illinois. We have been watching this line of severe weather work its way through the region for a good portion of the day. You can see some of those heavy storms into Davenport.
This tornado watch that you see that stretches all the way to Wisconsin, this goes straight until this evening, until 7:00 tonight.
And, finally, we're also tracking severe weather further to the south in Texas. We have a brand-new tornado warning for southeastern Hall County. That's right here north of Lubbock, south of Amarillo. And this goes until 2:45 today, Central time -- so, a very active weather day, in terms of tornadoes, on this first day of the hurricane season -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, Bonnie, keep us updated. SCHNEIDER: Sure.
HOLMES: Well, an important alert to tell you about here -- the FDA is now telling people to stay away from toothpaste products made in China.
This is an alert now being issued by the Food and Drug Administration, warning consumers to avoid using those tubes of toothpaste labeled as made in China.
Now, there are several different kinds of toothpaste and products. You need to look at this very closely, the FDA certainly listing this on their Web site. Well, this comes after a particular chemical was found to be in toothpaste, a chemical at a high level that can be deadly. That chemical is actually used in antifreeze, also used as a solvent.
Found in other places, the FDA began to check some of the toothpaste coming into this country, now has made the move to issue this alert.
I have got several here. And I'm -- we're going to try to get these out for you and try to get those on the screen. But, certainly, you need be directed to the FDA Web site.
But Cooldent Fluoride, Cooldent Spearmint, Cooldent ICE, Dr. Cool, Everfresh Toothpaste, Superdent Toothpaste, Clean Rite Toothpaste, Oralmax Extreme, Oral Bright, several of them here, almost too many to list, but it's an important list that you need to know about, and you need to start checking out, and need to get to the FDA Web site to find out about this.
Again, contaminated toothpaste from China was found in Panama and a couple of other areas. Some of it has shown up in Australia now, as well. But the FDA here in the U.S. has decided to make this important step and alert people that you should avoid toothpaste products coming from China.
We will continue to update this story, try to get some of these brands up for you as well, but, certainly, something you need to check out, and check that toothpaste in that bathroom of yours, important alert here being issued by the FDA.
PHILLIPS: Well, it's sure to get your attention, this story, also, an e-mail that appears to come from the IRS. But be very careful.
Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange has some details on this e-mail scam.
Susan, what do you know?
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what -- what the IRS is telling us, Kyra, is that scammers are sending out messages containing official-looking IRS logos and information warning readers that the tax agency is taking action against them, which is, obviously, a scary thought for anyone.
The e-mails contain a link for more information. If you click on it, that launches a malicious program which could paralyze your computer hard drive.
One e-mail claims to come from the IRS Criminal Investigation Unit. It tells recipients that they are under investigation in connection with the California Tax Franchise Board.
The other claims that a complaint has been logged against the reader. The scam first reported in California on Wednesday -- since then, it's popped up in boxes all over the country -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Well, what should a person do if they see something suspicious in their in-box?
LISOVICZ: Don't open it, Kyra. It's a general rule.
But, if you have already -- if you have already opened the message, IRS officials say, under no circumstances, should you click on any of the hyperlinks or open any attachments.
They do, however, encourage anyone who gets one of these messages to forward it to phishing@irs.gov. And phishing is with P-H-I-S-H-I- N-G.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: We know.
LISOVICZ: You knew that, Kyra, of course.
PHILLIPS: We knew that very well, yes, of course. We always are looking our for those.
LISOVICZ: Just -- you know, just in case, you know, you didn't see it.
All right, turning to the market, stocks are slightly higher, thanks largely to a round of fairly upbeat economic reports. The Dow and the S&P 500 are trying for record closes, which would be a nice way to open the month of June, after a spectacular May, by the way.
The Dow industrials are up 12 points, hanging in there, the Nasdaq up 10 points, or about half-a-percent. S&P 500 is up four points. That would be enough for another all-time close -- closing high, I should say.
And, finally, shares of Dow Jones, the parent of "The Wall Street Journal," surging 15 percent today on its own lead story.
The Bancroft family, which controls the majority of the company's voting power, has reversed course, and now says it will meet with media mogul Rupert Murdoch about News Corp.'s interest in buying the company. Dow Jones, of course, would be a critical get for News Corp. The company has indicated -- that is, News Corp. has indicated that it plans to launch a business channel this fall. And Rupert Murdoch would love to have all that sourcing from "The Wall Street Journal" for it.
Meantime, we will find out if Dow and S&P 500 can finish the week at record levels when I return in about 30 minutes -- for now, Kyra and T.J., back to you.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Susan.
HOLMES: Well, stay here.
After the break, we are going to list those brands of toothpaste we were just telling you about. The FDA has issued an alert, telling people to stay away from these toothpaste brands that came from China, made in China, because of a very harmful poison, a very harmful chemical that was found in some tubes of toothpaste.
We're going to list all those brands for you when we come back after this break.
Also, something we're keeping an eye on, expecting at the bottom of the hour, right here, this press conference. This is going to be happening at the hospital in Denver that is treating Andrew Speaker. Of course, he is the one that has been diagnosed with that rare and often deadly form of tuberculosis, and then flew on a couple of transatlantic flights. He is being treated at that hospital -- expecting a live news conference from that hospital, get an update on his condition, possibly.
That's after the break, as well. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
HOLMES: And I'm T.J. Homes, sitting in today for Don Lemon.
So, just how bad is it? Denver specialists busy evaluating Andrew Speaker's case of tuberculosis.
PHILLIPS: We're moments away from a live news conference with his doctors. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.
We are hoping at any minute now the doctors in Denver will step up to that podium and tell us the condition of Andrew Speaker.
You know, we finally heard from the tuberculosis patient for the very first time. He spoke to Diane Sawyer on "Good Morning America." He apologized for any type of threat or uncomfortable situation he put those passengers in on those two transatlantic flights that he made knowing he had TB. He did that interview side by side with his new wife. We will play that again for you. We will talk to doctors. We will listen in to his condition and how he's being treated.
Now, a lot of you have been writing in, in response to our e-mail question. If you were in Andrew Speaker's shoes, would you have boarded that plane?
HOLMES: A lot of people got opinions here.
Here's one here. William, he's pretty much to the point here, he says, "No way I would have boarded that plane. How irresponsible can a person be?"
PHILLIPS: But Spencer sees it completely differently. He writes, "I would have done anything possible to get back into the U.S. if I thought I needed special medical care to survive a disease. Who wouldn't have done anything possible to get home?"
HOLMES: We've got several e-mails. A whole lot of e-mails like this one we got from Walt, a lot of people upset, saying, "I think this guy should be on trial for attempted murder."
Not getting sympathy.
"He knew he was sick and everyone knows TB is contagious. He's lucky I wasn't exposed to him."
But Nancy here, she is wondering who to believe. She writes, "If the doctors warned Speaker that he was infectious and forbid him to fly, then I would not have boarded the plane, and neither should he. But if he was not warned, as he claims, then flying would be OK. Who's telling the truth?"
Please, keep those e-mails coming to the NEWSROOM, here at CNNnewsroom@cnn.com.
Democratic presidential candidates are getting ready to spar over the issues in their second debate of the year. CNN's Wolf Blitzer is the moderator of this verbal showdown this weekend. He joins us now live from Washington with a preview.
Now, Wolf, John King was saying it is going to be a lot of duking it out there. They've got the boxing gloves on. What do you think about this debate? How is it going to be different?
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: I think it's going to be different in the sense that we really want to give these candidates an opportunity to interact, to allow them to answer questions, but then it's going to be my job to make sure, A, they answer the questions and, B, to try to elicit reactions from the other candidates.
And let them weigh in and start to get a little dialogue going. And not necessarily be restricted to 30 seconds, or 60-second sound bytes, but to see if we can do this in a way that lets the viewers, the voters out there have a better sense of who these individuals are.
PHILLIPS: I know you've been thinking about the topics, what you are going to throw at each one of these candidates, because you're right. They are all looking for the sound byte, Wolf, they're looking the exchange. They want to get as much air time as possible.
How are you going to get that special insight that the viewer really wants, especially this time around, with all the controversy going on, on various issues?
BLITZER: Well, the first key is to make sure that we ask really smart questions on the issues, not necessarily just the horse race, or anything like that. But on the substantive issues, whether the issue of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, other foreign policy issues, whether Iran or North Korea, issues that affect the lives of the American people.
And then on the domestic issues, the key issues whether taxes, or health care, or education. There are a lot of important issues out there that Americans are deeply concerned about. There's the whole area of the social issues whether gay marriage, same-sex unions, abortion rights. There's a lot of issues out there.
We're going to have two hours for the Democrats Sunday night, Kyra. Two hours for the Republicans Tuesday night without any commercial interruption. And we're also going to allow individuals in New Hampshire, at St. Anson College, where this is going to be taking place, people will get up and ask their own questions of the respective candidates. And then I'll follow up if necessary with additional questions.
So it's -- we're hoping that the two hours, without commercial interruption, will allow the viewers out there and potential voters to get a better understanding of these Democratic and Republican candidates.
PHILLIPS: Wolf, what's your take? We're talking a lot about Iraq. We're talking a lot about immigration. Do you think those two subjects will dominate the discussion?
BLITZER: There's no doubt Iraq will. And I'm sure immigration reform will be a key issue as well. But there will be other issues as well. We're going to try -- you can do two hours, as you know, just on immigration, or you can do two hours just on Iraq.
But there's a lot of issues we want to get through. And given the number of candidates, eight Democrats, 10 Republicans, there's an 11th candidate out there, Fred Thompson -- I don't think he'll be coming to the debate Tuesday night, although if he wants to, he presumably -- he'd be able to. But there's going to be a lot of opportunity for each of the candidates to speak. But they're going to be challenged, and it's not going to necessarily simply be an opportunity for them to deliver a speech.
PHILLIPS: All right, Wolf. We'll see you in about 20 minutes.
BLITZER: Thanks.
PHILLIPS: Sunday, you can join the best political team on television beginning at 5:00 p.m. Eastern for a pre-game lineup of players, their weaknesses, and of course, who is expected to shine. Then at 7:00 Eastern, Democratic candidates square off. For the first time, they take questions from the voters.
Then immediately following the debates, who scored, who stumbled? Join Larry King, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, John Roberts and the Democratic candidates, live for "Raw Politics: Post-Debate" breakdown. It all starts right here Sunday night, at 5:00 Eastern.
HOLMES: We now want to get back to this important story that the FDA here has issued an alert for people to avoid toothpaste that was made in China. We have the list now. We do want to bring it to you. Here they are. Take a peek at them. Look at them closely. The FDA has issued this warning because this chemical DEG has been found in other countries, including Panama, that have this chemical in it. This chemical has been linked to actual deaths in other countries.
Again, not here in the U.S., but this chemical linked to deaths in other countries because of this chemical that has been found in the toothpaste. So none of this, again, want to be clear that no contaminated toothpaste, no illness has been linked to any toothpaste here in the United States. But out an abundance of caution, the FDA is taking this step to issuing this alert and ask you to look in those medicine cabinets, look in the drawers in the bathroom, and make sure. If the stuff says, "Made in China" avoid it altogether. They did list these brands here.
Go to our website, where I'm sure we're going to list those. Also the FDA website, you need to check that out. But to avoid these products -- again, the toothpaste that says "Made in China" -- need to avoid it until otherwise we hear from the FDA.
PHILLIPS: Any minute now, we are waiting to hear from those doctors at the Denver hospital that are treating Andrew Speaker. The man with tuberculosis that, of course, finally spoke out today. We heard from him. You'll hear from him again and hear from his doctors. That's at 3:30 p.m. Eastern, any minute now. It's actually 3:40 now, any second, stepping up to the podium. Stay with us, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Andrew Speaker's doctors talking about his TV case, right now, live from Denver.
(BEGIN LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)
Andrew Speaker, and he just said that to me about 15 minutes ago. So that's basically it. Now I'm going to introduce Gwen Huitt; and that's H-U-I-T-T. G-W-E-N. She is the attending physician and is going to give a brief statement and then we'll take questions.
DR. GWEN HUITT, NATIONAL JEWISH MEDICAL: Good afternoon. The patient is doing very well today. We were able to get him on an exercise bike in his room, so he's starting to do some good exercises in preparation of the road that he has ahead of him.
We started medications today. And, thus far, he's obviously tolerating them quite well. This will be a process over the next few days that we will add additional medications on -- over a period of a week, or so, so that we don't have to assault his body with these potentially very toxic medications all at once. We sort of work them in gradually.
Again, he is -- he had a good night's sleep. He has absolutely no cough, no fever. He has a very good appetite. He's eating well. We obtained the first chest X-ray and chest CAT scan last night. And there were absolutely no surprises from -- on the findings from this based on the X-rays that had been provided to us from the physicians in Georgia.
So there are no surprises regarding the extent of his disease in his lungs. And that's, obviously, a very good thing for him. I will say that, as I said yesterday, we are going through the process of repeating sputum analysis, which is the first step we do in analyzing how communicable a patient with tuberculosis is.
And the first one we've performed here is what we term smear negative. This is exactly the same findings that they have in the facilities in Georgia. So, once again, I want to reiterate that based on their findings in Georgia and the findings that we have thus far at our facility, that it is our opinion that he is of low communicability.
Regarding the smear status, and that's what we in the medical community talk about in a patient when we're analyzing tuberculosis and a patient's communicability, as I said yesterday, we look at several things. Is the patient coughing? Are they ill? Are they producing a lot of sputum when they cough? Do they have a productive cough? He has none of these and has never had any of these symptoms. So again, from a communicability standpoint, it's extremely low.
Our patients at National Jewish, there has been concern from the local community and our patient population as to the safety of -- and their well-being should they come to their institution for their ongoing medical care by the group of fine colleagues that I have here. And I can assure everyone in the public that they are safe to come in our facility. There is absolutely no risk to a patient or visitor at this institution. We have built-in controls, as was alluded to yesterday, isolation rooms. The patient is masked when he had to have his X-rays last night. There were no patients around, and he was fully masked.
Otherwise, he's been in his room the entire time. So there is no risk to any patients or any community members regarding their own personal health.
So I'll be happy to take any questions now. Yes? QUESTION: Doctor, you mentioned the toxicity of the medications he's going to be taking over the next week. Can you talk a little bit more about that? What do these drugs do to his system?
HUITT: Well, in one extreme, they may do nothing. He is young, healthy person so his body may be able to metabolize them just fine. And other than having to take up to 12 pills a day, or more, that -- he may tolerate them just fine.
Some side effects that we always watch for are rash. Any medicine that you give someone can cause a rash. Many of these medications can cause nausea and upset stomach. Some medications may cause headaches; a variety of maladies that any of us have experienced when we ourselves take medications.
And you never know when you are combing several medications how a person's body will process them. So that's what we're here for, is to observe him over the next several weeks, to watch and prevent those toxicities. That's our job is to protect him, while we're in the process of getting him well.
Yes?
QUESTION: At what point would you know if the medications were doing anything? How quickly (OFF MIC)?
HUITT: I would anticipate that we will be getting repeat chest CAT scan in four to six weeks. And that would be on an X-ray one way we could figure out whether the changes in the X-ray are actually receding, showing improvement.
The things that would commonly be present in somebody who is quite ill with tuberculosis would be you'd watch for a decrease in cough. You'd watch for a decrease in fever. You'd see them gaining weight. Well, he doesn't have any of those symptoms right now. So I can't watch them. I can watch him gain weight as we feed him wonderful meals from our cafeteria, but I can't watch for those.
So we will periodically check his sputum, but again, as I say, right now it's smear negative. You can't improve on an already smear negative sputum.
QUESTION: So if the drugs are doing well, it's at least a month before you know, or if they're not, to switch drugs, or change course.
HUITT: Yes, I mean, this is a process. So in answer to your question, yes. As long as everything is going in the right direction, if he wasn't doing well, we would know that clinically. We see many patients and our experienced in looking for signs and symptoms of a patient worsening. We'd be able to detect that. If we felt any sense of that, we would obtain chest X-rays earlier.
QUESTION: How did you guys choose the medications that you are giving to him? Can you mention what they are?
HUITT: I'd rather not mention the drugs specifically, but we chose -- our initial choices -- and again, we're just starting them slowly, are based on results that we obtained from the CDC lab tests that were provided to us. We are repeating those tests in our laboratory, but these tests are slow to perform. So we're operating on excellent data provided to us from the CDC.
QUESTION: Is this a drug that wasn't available to give him in Georgia? One of these drugs that National Jewish uniquely has been able to test?
HUITT: The drugs that we have chosen thus far would be available in the United States, readily, through most warehouses, let's say. One of them it might take a few days to get. We have it on hand because this is a drug we use all the time.
QUESTION: For TB?
HUITT: For TB.
QUESTION: And how many drugs are you planning to administer over the next week?
HUITT: Our goal right now is probably to get him on five, at least. And again, that may change as --
(END LIVE FEED, IN PROGRESS)
PHILLIPS: Doctor Gwen Huitt, one of the doctors treating Andrew Speaker right now. The 31-year-old lawyer from Atlanta who has TB. In a nutshell, right now the tests she says look good, low level of contagion. We'll talk about the specifics of what the smear status and the various tests that they have taken, with our Elizabeth Cohen, in just a second, our medical correspondent.
But they put a bike in his room, so he's able to exercise. And it is safe to come into the hospital, they said. There's been a lot of concern among employees and the public about, is it safe to come into the hospital? They are guaranteeing there is no risk to that.
Also Andrew Speaker telling his doctors, please tell everyone that I appreciate their well wishes. I'm getting them, and it means a lot to me. We'll hear more from the doctors after we take a quick break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We've got more information now on this disturbance at a Baltimore jail. A fight, as it's being called, at the infirmary there. This is the Metropolitan Transition Center. This fight broke out around 2:00 p.m. there in Baltimore.
Right now, we understand from our affiliates, at least 15 inmates were injured in this fight. And eight have injuries severe enough that they are being described as life threatening. Those inmates have been taken to hospitals there.
Again, a fight that breaks out at a prison yard at a prison facility there in Maryland. Don't know how this started. We do know as well that no prison employees, no personnel there, were injured in this. Don't know how the fight started. But at least eight inmates described as having life-threatening injuries there in Baltimore at the Metropolitan Transition Center. Another seven injured in this fight as well.
PHILLIPS: Let's take it over to the Severe Weather Center. Bonnie Schneider, you have been a busy woman today.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Closing bell wraps up the action on Wall Street, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Closing bell about to ring on Wall Street.
HOLMES: And Susan Lisovicz keeping an eye on things on Wall Street.
Hello, there.
SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Kyra and T.J.
I know you love that Everlast story, T.J.
HOLMES: Yes.
LISOVICZ: So, I'm going to go back to it.
Everlast, it's the iconic name associated with fighters throughout the ages. Its shares up right now up 15 percent, because the company is being bought out for $146 million. It's going to go private. And big boost in the stock.
Today is the first day of June. A nice start to June. Looks like we'll have closing highs, all-time highs for the Dow industrials and for the S&P 500. Of course, we're coming off a terrific month of May. May up for the Dow, up about 500 points, or about 4 percent. So very nice rally that continues.
That's a nice way to start the weekend. I'll throw it back to you, Kyra and T.J. Have a great one at that.
HOLMES: Thank you, Susan.
PHILLIPS: You too, Susan.
All right, we're going to head to THE SIT ROOM.
HOLMES: Wolf Blitzer, standing by.
Hello, Wolf.
BLITZER: Thanks very much, guys.
Happening now: Pentagon concerns. The Defense Department says it is preparing for a possible onslaught of requests from presidential candidates that want to visit Iraq.
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