Return to Transcripts main page

CNN 10

Results of the Canadian National Election; Settlement Related to Opioids; Deep-Sea Shipwreck Discovery; "Food Oasis"

Aired October 23, 2019 - 04:00   ET

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


CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: With the week rolling along, we`re happy you`re spending part of your Wednesday with CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz at the CNN

Center. It`s always good to see you. Election results are in from Canada and the nation`s incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to serve

another four year term in office but election results for him were a mixed bag. In the vote that was held on Monday, Prime Minister Trudeau`s

political party, the liberal party, won enough seats for him to stay in power as prime minister but the party lost its majority in parliament. It

needs to have 170 seats for that and though the liberals won 184 seats in the last election, they won 157 in this one.

Canada`s conservative party, the main opponents of the liberals, gained seats in this election winning 121 of them but that too is short of a

majority. So for Prime Minster Trudeau`s party to pass any major legislation it will have to get support from other smaller parties within

parliament. So compromise will have to factor into that and by many accounts including one by Prime Minister Trudeau, this election was a

divisive one for Canada. The nation shares a border with only one other country, the United States. Ahead of Canada`s election former U.S.

President Barak Obama endorsed Prime Minister Trudeau and after it current U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Trudeau on his victory.

Up next a settlement worth hundreds of millions of dollars related to America`s opioid epidemic. A trial was set to begin this week. The

plaintiffs were two counties in Ohio and the defendants were four pharmaceutical companies. The counties accused the drug distributors of

not doing enough to make sure that the orders they filled were going to people that needed them and not to the black market. The companies were

also accused of ignoring signs there was a problem concerning opioids in northeastern Ohio. Hours before the trial began, the four companies agreed

to a settlement worth $260 million.

They said they strongly disputed the counties accusations but that they believed settling the trial would be an important step toward quote

"achieving a global resolution and delivering meaningful relief". They also said they expected the settlement money would be used to fight the

opioid epidemic by treating and rehabilitating people who abuse the drugs. This was one legal case concerning the opioid epidemic. There are more

than 2,700 others like it awaiting trial. The problem is widespread across America. Between 1999 and 2017, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control says

almost 400,000 people died from overdosing on opioids that includes both prescription and illegal drugs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sometimes it`s gnawing other times it`s sharp. It can be a persistent ache or a sudden shooting burn. It`s pain. Everyone knows

what it is but how is it relieved? When you accidentally touch a hot stove or try to walk on a sprained ankle, special pain sensing nerves called

nociceptors are triggered to send neuro messages up your spine and into your brain. In turn, your brain releases naturally occurring opioids.

These chemicals lock into opioid receptors throughout your body to help dull the pain and generally calm you down. They also hit receptors in the

brain stem that slow down breathing.

Now (ph) you`ve likely heard of opioid drugs like oxycodone, hydrocodone, even heroin. These drugs all chemically similar mimic the body`s own

naturally occurring endorphins. Prescription opioids are one of the most common ways for doctors to treat pain but the more opioids you take, the

less natural opioid your body makes and the less sensitive you become to the drugs. Pushing you to take even higher and higher doses to get any

relief and increasing your chances of an overdose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which of these World War II battles was a turning point in the fight between the U.S. and Japan? Battle of the Bulge, Battle

of Midway, Battle of the Coral Sea or Battle of Kursk. Fought in early June of 1942, the Battle of Midway, a naval battle was an important victory

for America.

There were four Japanese aircraft carriers destroyed in the Battle of Midway and within the past week the remains of two of them have been

located by a team of deep sea explorers. The Kaga was found last Wednesday and the Akagi was found on Sunday. That shipwreck rests more than 17,000

feet beneath the surface of the Pacific. It`s located about 1,300 miles northwest of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and historians say both of these carriers

participated in the attacks on Pearl Harbor. The Akagi was sunk on June 5th, 1942.

It was reportedly detected by an autonomous underwater vehicle which took sonar images of the site and matched them with the dimensions of the lost

Japanese warship. A U.S. Naval historian says unlike land war, ocean battles leave nothing we can see on the surface. So finding these

shipwrecks will give historians a new perspective on the Battle of Midway.

The pastor of Conetoe Chapel Missionary Baptist Church did not like farming when he was a kid. Reverend Richard Joyner is the son of sharecroppers.

He says the last thing he wanted to do when he grew up was work in the fields. But as an adult, the work that Joyner thought he`d hate has turned

into something he loves and made him a CNN Hero back in 2016 and it`s helped improve his community of just under 300 people in Conetoe, North

Carolina.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REVEREND RICHARD JOYNER: Conetoe was a food desert but I want to do something about it. We began to grown (ph) and we began to put our hearts

and hands together and Conetoe is no longer a food desert. Conetoe is a food oasis. I`m Reverend Richard (inaudible) Joyner founder of Conetoe

Family Life Center. Conetoe is a rural area in the eastern part of North Carolina, population of about 300 people. A food desert really mean that

the residents here do not have access to fresh, locally, affordably grown foods. But we buy most of our food from discount stores which are high in

sodium, calories, very low in nutritional values.

People have these early stages of chronic disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes and even mental illness because of the

stress and the pain. People are dying in their 30s` and 40s`. We will be having two to three funerals a month and really devastating families. I

was really feeling overwhelmed and feeling hopeless because I couldn`t stop this chronic disease. I pulled on the side of the road and really started

to pray, wanting to know what could I do. And I had this epiphany, open your eyes, look around and I opened my eyes and all I saw was fields.

So we started our first small garden and now we`re up to 21 acres of farmland. We have about eight people that are parents and grandparents of

our youth that work here everyday. We have 40 students during the summer that use this farm for their reading, writing, math and science and for

food. Presently on our farm we have blueberries, tomatoes. We have collards. We have squash. We have zucchini. We end up averaging 100

pounds of food per week out of the garden. Food that we grow has had a tangible impact upon our community. We`re able to put food on people`s

tables.

Hello, you`re having vegetables (inaudible). Our community is sparing $4,000 (inaudible) a month on prescription pills. Because of food the

deaths have slowed down, we`re not having as many funerals. I feel like we are making a difference. I love this community here because we`re united

around saving lives together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AZUZ: Following yesterday`s Halloween themed 10 out of 10 segment you`ve heard of the "Walking Dead", take a ride with the "Biking Dead". What else

would you expect at the Florida Keys Fantasy Fest Zombie Bike Ride? This is part of a 10 day festival that takes place every year. There`s a lot of

make-up, a lot of creativity that goes into this and not much speed. So you can get a good gander at the 11,000 undead people who participated.

And there`s no place that they`d rather "zombie". Now it might not look too real but it is "two wheeled" a "zombie abikeolypse" that`s a "ride of

the living dead". For some it`s "killer, for other it`s "thriller" and haters can just hoist up the "zombie sail" and go home to another

"Zombieland". I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.

END