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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Immigration Battle; Letting them Go?; Devilish Details; Border Holes; Dispatches from the Edge: On the Border; Fake Botox; Botox Facts
Aired May 25, 2006 - 23:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANNOUNCER: ...almost killed them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a Stephen King novel that we lived, and it's a miracle that we're together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANNOUNCER: Deadly knockoffs on the market. So, who is protecting you?
Across the country and around the world, this is ANDERSON COOPER 360. Live from the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, here's Anderson cooper.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us. We begin with the dogfight in Washington over immigration. After a week of sometimes bitter debate and countless attempts to amend or even scuttle it, the Senate tonight passed a version of an immigration reform bill. That may have been the easy part.
The bill, which is a mix of enforcement and legalization may prove tough to reconcile with the much tougher House version. And as CNN's John king reports, the issue is dividing the Republican party right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the end, the Senate immigration vote was rather lopsided.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The ayes are 62, the nays are 36. The bill as amended is agreed to.
KING: But don't be fooled -- 23 Senate Republicans voted in favor of the bill, but 32 Senate Republicans voted no. And many of them called on the House to resist the new guest worker program most conservatives consider amnesty for lawbreakers.
SEN. JOHN ENSIGN (R), NEVADA: I'm hopeful that the House will save us from this bill.
KING: Waiting on the House side of the Capitol are conservatives like Steve Chabot of Ohio, who says he cannot support Senate provisions that put millions of illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship.
REP. STEVE CHABOT (R), OHIO: I think anything that approaches amnesty is wrong, and I think they're going to have a hard time getting enough votes in the House to pass such a bill.
KING: Two trips to Capitol Hill in a week by Whitehouse Strategist Karl Rove did nothing to soften conservative oppositions.
NEIL NEWHOUSE, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: The anger is so strong and the frustration is so strong on this issue that, you know, I think perhaps the White House may have missed that kind of intensity.
KING: The White House tried again as the Senate finished its work, suggesting voters will hold Republicans accountable in November if the House will not compromise on such a critical issue.
TONY SNOW, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The question they're going to have to ask themselves is do we really want to oppose comprehensive reform?
KING: But the man who counts the votes for House Republicans says that while compromise is not out of the question, the House will enter the negotiations pushing to improve border security first and to deal with guest workers and everything else in separate legislation later.
REP. ROY BLUNT (R), MAJORITY WHIP: I think it's fair to say that the leadership's message to the president has been we don't believe that one bill is necessarily the best way to do this and it just may take two steps.
KING: During a week of sometimes tense debate...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is fatally flawed.
KING: The Senate did take steps towards the tougher approach favored by House Republicans, adding authority to deploy the National Guard to the border, new fencing and barriers, and new penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants.
But the guest worker program was and is the Republican immigration fault line.
(On camera): President Bush praised the Senate measure and said any final bill must not only improve border security but quote, "address the issue of the millions of illegal immigrants already in our country." Translation, he wants his guest worker program.
But even many Bush allies question whether the weakened president can lobby enough House Republicans to go along.
John King, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, whatever form it takes, the new legislation will only be as tough as the enforcement of it. Here's an example.
What percentage of people suspected of smuggling immigrants over the border actually get prosecuted? These are smugglers we're talking about -- 60 percent do you think? Maybe 20 percent? Well, the truth is it's 6 percent. That's the claim.
Tonight Correspondent Peter Viles checks it out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER VILES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A chase and the driver shot and killed near the Mexican border. But it might have been avoided if only he had known, he probably wouldn't even be prosecuted for smuggling just four illegal aliens.
WILLIAM COLGAN, RETIRED U.S. BORDER PATROL AGENT: My understanding from agents that I've spoken with is that there must be at least 12 people being smuggled. And if there's not 12 people being smuggled, they basically will not be prosecuted.
VILES: Retired Border Patrol Agent William Colgan spent three decades chasing smugglers and said it's an open secret and a sore subject inside the agency. Small scale smugglers are usually not prosecuted.
COLGAN: Well, it is very dispiriting. If you're out there working, trying to do your job. You know what the law is and you catch somebody who is obviously smuggling illegal aliens into the United States, and then the U.S. Attorney's Office refuses to prosecute that person and put them in jail, you begin to wonder why you're out there.
VILES: Officially, the Border Patrol has no complaint, saying it works with prosecutors to identify a top 20 list of smugglers targeted for prosecution.
But in San Diego, the union for Border Patrol agents has been at odds with U.S. Attorney Carol Lamb for some time.
A leaked Border Patrol memo, released by a Congressman Daryl Isa (ph), claims she prosecuted only 6 percent of suspected smugglers in 2004.
Lamb declined to confirm or deny the 6 percent claim, but says in a statement, quote, "The border patrol document has been substantially altered and passed off as an official report." Nor would her office discuss its guidelines for prosecuting suspected smugglers, except to say quote, "We have wide latitude and use flexibility when deciding each case."
PROF. LAURIE LEVENSON, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: From the prosecutor's point of view, they have no choice. They have to have practical guidelines. They cannot prosecute all of these cases, there are just too many. So they pick the most egregious ones, by saying, look, the guy who smuggles 10, 20 people, we're going to prosecute. The guy who brings one or two, we can't bother with him. VILES: Colgan says the result is a revolving door on the border.
COLGAN: I have seen people that have been put into that system and their record has come back. And they have been formally deported from the United States 10 times. And never prosecuted.
VILES: So this is justice on the border.
Peter Viles for CNN, El Cajon, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: More now on the details, that is, what we know of them, from CNN's Lou Dobbs. We spoke earlier this evening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: It's interesting, Lou, when you actually try to pinpoint exactly what is in this bill that passed through the Senate. It's hard to pinpoint because it doesn't seem like many people have actually read it in the Senate.
LOU DOBBS, HOST "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT": No one has read it. And interestingly, they put together a waiver to say they don't really care about the cost. By the way, that's about half a trillion dollars over the second 10 years of the legislation.
But the beauty today, Anderson, is an amendment -- a manager's amendment. Senator Arlen Specter, presumably the author of this, as he was the manager, saying that the United States government could not construct a fence along the Mexican border without first consulting the government of Mexico.
In other words, the United States Senate is not only further bankrupting this country, putting together some of the most ill conceived and idiotic legislation in its history, but basically turning over outright sovereignty to the government of Mexico.
COOPER: What does it say about what's going on in Washington? Because you have Tony Snow, the spokesperson for the president saying this today -- he said, quote, 'It's pretty clear that members of both Houses understand that they pay a heavier political price for failing to act than for acting." And he said that's what he's been hearing from Republicans of both Houses.
DOBBS: That passes for deep intellectual rationalization these days, Anderson, in Washington, D.C. The fact is, in the Senate, what we've witnessed is the president of the United States, the leadership, both in the same party in the Senate, combining with the Democrats to pass legislation over the wishes of the majority of the Republicans which control, of course, the Senate. You couldn't make this up.
COOPER: Well, obviously, this now has got to be hashed out with members of the House who have passed their own version.
DOBBS: Right. COOPER: And they -- focusing just on border security. But look, if the majority of Americans want comprehensive reform, if they want some path to citizen, some way to deal with the tens of millions, 11 million, you say 20 million illegal immigrants who are here, why shouldn't there be a comprehensive bill, if that's what Americans want?
DOBBS: Well, if that's what they wanted, that would be fine. But poll after poll after poll, more than 70 percent of Americans say they do not want anything approaching this legislation. And what they do want 4-1/2 years, Anderson, after September 11th, is border security, which the president doesn't need a bill to do. He doesn't need legislation. He can just do it.
And as I have said time and time again, you cannot reform immigration if you can't control it. And you can't control immigration if you do not secure and control our borders and our ports.
And there is nothing in this legislation passed by the Senate that approaches achieving that.
COOPER: But only focusing on border security, aren't you kind of leaving the elephant in the room, just kind of still wandering around?
DOBBS: Well, it depends on what you call an elephant. I consider the security of this country and 280 million Americans to be the most important possible responsibility of either House of Congress and the president of the United States. They have not done it.
Our Department of Homeland Security is a sham. I believe national security is the priority. We can deal once we can control immigration with secure borders. But first we control and secure our borders and ports for national security reasons. Secondarily, for immigration control reasons.
By having control of our borders and ports gives us the ability to truly reform immigration. But it is a secondary tertiary responsibility of this government. The primary is, without question, our national sovereignty and our national security. And the Senate today just simply threw all of that away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well you can, of course, see Lou Dobbs every weeknight 6:00 p.m., Eastern, right here on CNN.
And if you're wondering which states will have the hardest job ahead, when it comes to enforcing any immigration reforms that pass, here's the raw data.
California faces the biggest challenge, with an estimated 2.4 million illegal immigrants. Texas is next, 1.4 million illegals there, it's estimated. Then Florida, with 850,000 undocumented immigrants. Despite the outcry about border security, major holes in the border persist. We all know that. In fact, we're going to take you to a favorite passage point that authorities can't seem to plug.
Also have this...
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ERIC KAPLAN, BUSINESS CONSULTANT: Our goal was to turn back the clock, John, not realizing we were going to hit the fast forward button.
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COOPER: They thought they were getting a Botox injection. What they were given, left them on life support. A scary story on that coming up.
And reactions to the Enron verdict. Do employees who suffered economic devastation have any sympathy for two prison-bound executives?
360 will be back in a moment.
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COOPER: Well, if you think you've heard every facet of the border and illegal immigration story, we're willing to bet you haven't. Despite the unprecedented protests about border security, there are patches along the border that still defy attempts to control them.
CNN's Rick Sanchez filed this report from Jacume, Mexico.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, U.S. authorities are telling us they are deliberately pushing border crossers further out into more remote areas. We're about 40 or 50 miles from the more populated San Diego-Tijuana crossing area which is directly behind us. This is the U.S. border. But look what happens as we walk over here. It's not just a broken border. I am leaning into the United States right now. This is practically no border at all.
(Voice-over): This low fence is not the only reason smugglers are attracted to this desolate Mexican border town of Jacume. Here is another. These hills that provide perfect lookout posts so smugglers in Mexico can monitor the movements of the U.S. Border Patrol.
Bob Mitchell lives on the U.S. side, just across from Jacume. He can see why this place is a perfect spot for smugglers.
BOB MITCHELL, CONCERNED U.S. RESIDENT: You can see they've got 180-degree view of about 10 miles in each direction here.
SANCHEZ: From their high ground, they can see and control the mountains, trails and ravines. U.S. Border Patrol won't comment about Jacume, but Mexican police tell us the area is so dangerous, they generally stay away.
(On camera): Because of the mountain, because of the deserts, because of the isolation, you are not able to go in there and really do your job? You don't have the advantage.
(Voice-over): With nothing more than handguns, police tell us they're outgunned. But what about the people who live in the town? After a 10-mile dusty dirt road drive, we found residents seemingly afraid to reveal the truth about this place.
(On camera): Drug smuggling and people smuggling, do you know anything about that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't know.
SANCHEZ: You don't know nothing? Are there any people who come in here and do that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I don't know.
(Voice-over): But off camera, at least one local resident made a tacit admission, telling us, we're all innocent -- until they catch us, that is.
The man who lives in this house told us that smugglers pay him up to $10 a person to pick up illegals and hold them until it's time to cross the border.
And then there's Theresa Perez, a local shopkeeper who has lived here for 38 years.
(On camera): Have you seen it change much?
(Voice-over): The town has grown, she says. We ask her if she thinks the police should do more?
Do you think they're complicit?
THERESA PEREZ, LOCAL SHOPKEEPER: I'm sorry.
SANCHEZ: You can't say?
We can say this. In Jacume, a local police officer was recently accused of accepting $5,000 a week from smugglers for protection.
(On camera): We asked the police commissioner directly if his men are corrupt.
Is it true that any of your officers or officers in the past have taken money from these guys?
It doesn't exist.
(Voice-over): Back in the U.S. side, Bob Mitchell says the U.S. border policy that forces illegals to cross in remote open areas has changed the place where he lives.
MITCHELL: We're mostly very fed up with the behavior of the government and the management of this, quite frankly.
SANCHEZ: Jacume makes for the perfect crime. The steep geography, the isolation, the apparent willingness of residents and some say the police, means in this place smugglers are kings of the mountain.
Rick Sanchez, CNN, Jacume, Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Fascinating.
This week on 360, we've been updating some of my dispatches from places around the world. Many of them are the subject of my new book which just came out this week. "Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters and Survival."
As you know, we've been spending a lot of time lately on the border, literally the edge of this country where I recently found a group of minutemen, civilian volunteers, building their own fence along the border. Here is a quick look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (voice-over): The minutemen are stepping up their actions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patriot 10, this is Patriot Two, do you copy?
COOPER: For the first time, they plan to build a fence along the border. It's a new front in their battle against illegal immigration. About 100 volunteers have shown up, and they're driving to an undisclosed location along the U.S.-Mexican border. They don't know how authorities will react when they start to build the fence.
(On camera): On this part of the border where the Minutemen are working today, there is a fence, probably about 12 feet high. But the problem is, it just stops where these rocks are. Then the border is just completely open.
(Voice-over): When you see this, what do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why? Why does it stop? It wouldn't be that hard to build it across the rock.
COOPER: Armed with fence posts and barbed wire, the volunteers quickly begin construction. A Border Patrol helicopter flies overhead, but authorities make no attempt to stop the fence building.
TIM DONNELLY, MINUTEMEN CIVIL DEFENSE CORPS: Well, yes, it's symbolic in a way because we want the government to see us actually building the fence. But take a look right there. It's wide open. So if there's a fence there when we leave here, then we will have left the border more secure than we found it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need to get our country back.
COOPER: In what way?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Illegals are illegal. At least it was when I went to school.
COOPER: For many of those here, it's their first time volunteering with the Minutemen.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I feel very passionate about the issue itself, but also, it's one of the few issues I can affect because I can't do anything about the deficit, or I can't do anything about the war in Iraq.
COOPER: You don't seem like a vigilante.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope not. I'm not. I don't think any of us do.
COOPER: By the end of the day, the Minutemen have finished a makeshift fence some 150 yards long. For Tim Donnelly, it's both a symbol and a start.
What do you think you accomplished today?
DONNELLY: As I look down this line, I am overwhelmed with just a sense that this is an idea whose time has come. And I think we have probably -- the most significant thing we will have accomplished today is we're sending a picture to the Senate.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER (on camera): Well, an update now. Since that visit, President Bush, of course, as ordered 6,000 National Guard troops to the Mexican border. Minutemen Organizer Chris Simcox (ph) says there needs to be five times that many troops -- 30,000 he says.
To keep the pressure on, the Minutemen are going to repeat their fence building project over Memorial Day weekend. The group says that for the first time they'll build private border fencing on private land, using private donations.
In the weeks ahead we'll bring you more "Dispatches from the Edge" reports on some of the places I visited and some of the places I write about in the book.
Coming up, more now on immigration. He's been sneaking in and out of America for nearly 40 years. An illegal immigrant playing a cat and mouse game with the Border Patrol agents who just found out the surprise of his life.
Also tonight, what was supposed to be a painless cosmetic procedure nearly left a husband and his wife dead. We'll explain ahead. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Tonight and over the past several weeks we've shown you all the dangers that people have faced trying to cross the U.S. border with Mexico. They risk their lives, they're beaten, and they often lose all their money.
But believe it or not, some people who go through all that don't even need to. Once again, CNN's Rick Sanchez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ (voice-over): Wilfredo Garza has been sneaking across the Rio Grande for most of his 35 years.
That's where I cross, he shows us, as he explains how he would change into dry clothes that he'd carried over his head.
Wilfredo and his brother, Jose, say that Border Patrol here in Brownsville, Texas, has been cracking down. That's why the Garza brothers bought a small ramshackle house on the U.S. side. So they wouldn't have to keep crossing back and forth.
Here for 15 years they've eked out a living on odd jobs like fixing cars, while constantly looking over their shoulder.
Four times Wilfredo's been caught by Border Patrol. He explains to us how Border Patrol pulled him down from the fence. Each time he was caught, he was bused back to Mexico. And each time he swam back across the river. The cycle would have continued except Wilfredo met Jaime Diez, an immigration lawyer.
JAIME DIEZ, IMMIGRATION LAWYER: People walk into my office all the time. Probably 80 percent of them I have to turn away.
SANCHEZ: But with Wilfredo Garza, it was a different story.
You had good news for him?
DIEZ: I have good news for him, good news for his brother.
SANCHEZ: Jaime told Wilfredo that because his father was born and worked in Texas, that meant Wilfredo was actually a U.S. citizen.
(On camera): Were you surprised?
Completely surprised.
(Voice-over): Attorney Jaime Diez says each week at least three to four people like Wilfredo, walk into his office, not knowing they're actually U.S. citizens.
Unlike many of them, Wilfredo had the papers to prove it -- his father's birth certificate and work records. With that in hand, his attorney was able to give Wilfredo what he never thought he'd have -- certificate of citizenship. (On camera): You feel good?
(Voice-over): The news is just sinking in for him. And the changes it will bring.
(On camera): So you no longer have to get wet when you go into Mexico or come back? Never.
Wilfredo already has his first job lined up. Starts next week as a mate on a shrimp boat. As we pass the U.S. flag, I ask him what he's thinking. I can't believe, he responds, I'm actually an American.
Rick Sanchez, CNN, Brownsville, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, bizarre.
All they wanted to do in this next story was look younger. It almost killed them. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ERIC KAPLAN, BUSINESS CONSULTANT: I thought I was at my own funeral because I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't move a muscle in my body. Then I thought maybe it's a dream. So I kept telling myself in my brain, wake up, wake up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It only gets worse for a couple who believed they were getting Botox injections. We'll tell you what happened next.
Also, judgment day for two men responsible for the greatest corporate collapse in American history, when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, we all know Botox injections are getting more popular by the minute. Last year alone, nearly 4 million shots were given at doctor's offices, the dentists', even at a mall. The goal, I guess, is smoother skin. Well, tell that to a husband and wife. They nearly died after getting what they thought were Botox injections, but they weren't Botox injections.
John Zarrella reports in this CNN investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It offers the illusion of youth in a few quick injections. Botox, the wonder drug that makes wrinkles and aging lines temporarily disappear.
Like many Americans, Eric and Bonnie Kaplan, 52 and 53 respectively, got caught up in the new cosmetic craze. ERIC KAPLAN, BUSINESS CONSULTANT: Our goal was to turn back the clock, John, not realizing we were going to hit the fast forward button.
ZARRELLA: Their plan back in 2004 was to get a few Botox shots before the holiday season -- 36 hours later, it was clear something was terribly wrong.
BONNIE KAPLAN, FORMER PRINCIPAL: I just couldn't breathe. And I remember my young son had to help me to get out of bed. I couldn't walk.
ZARRELLA: The Kaplans were rushed to the Palm Beach Gardens emergency room in Florida, but doctors had no idea what was causing their symptoms.
(On camera): At this point, what's your condition like?
E. KAPLAN: I was having shortness of breath and actually slurred speech. I was starting to talk like this. I said goodbye to my children. The amazing thing about death, John, is you know when you're going to die.
ZARRELLA: In a matter of hours the Kaplans became totally paralyzed. Their family doctor put them on life support.
E. KAPLAN: initially I thought I was at my own funeral. I remember the doctor saying, Eric, I don't know if you can hear us, but you're in bad trouble. We think you have botulism. And you're paralyzed and you're probably going to be like this for 18 months. And at that point, I wanted to die. I prayed to die.
ZARRELLA: Blood tests at the CDC had revealed something shocking. A nerve damaging agent, Botulinum Toxin A was killing the Kaplans.
GERALD EPSTEIN, SENIOR SECURITY FELLOW, CSIS: Botulinum toxin is the -- or one of the most poisonous substances known. So in vanishing small amounts it can kill somebody.
ZARRELLA: Knowing Botox is derived from the Botulinum toxin, doctors quickly realized what had happened. The Kaplans never got the FDA approved drug Botox, they got a lethal knockoff that according to the CDC contained 2,800 times the approved amount of Botulinum toxin.
Federal prosecutors convicted the man who injected the Kaplans, Bach McComb, on charges of causing a misbranded drug to be introduced to interstate commerce. But the Kaplans' Attorney Stuart Grossman is far from satisfied.
STUART GROSSMAN, ATTORNEY FOR THE KAPLANS: I don't know why List has not been disturbed to say the least by the federal government for its conduct in this case.
ZARRELLA: List Biological is the toxin manufacturer that sold the vial of research grade Botulinum Toxin A to Advanced Integrated Medical Centers, the clinic where McComb treated the Kaplans.
According to the CDC's regulations on select agent toxins, List can legally ship up to 0.5 milligrams of Botulinum toxin without telling the government. But the law stipulates it must only be shipped to what is defined as a quote, "principal investigator or researcher at an institution who's leading a scientific or technical project."
GROSSMAN: This was not a research facility. List had no idea to whom they were shipping this, I believe. They didn't know, they didn't care. It is ignorance or apathy? It doesn't matter.
ZARRELLA (on camera): Grossman has filed a civil lawsuit against List, charging them with negligence and violating federal regulations on shipping select agent toxins.
(Voice-over): Deposition video obtained exclusively by CNN shows the President of List Karen Crawford knew nothing about the buyer, Tommy Toia.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is not on the order slip a single description of Tom Toia, saying that he's a physician, owns a bowling alley, is a research chemist, is a private in the Air Force or anything else. Isn't it true, inescapably true, doctor, that you had no idea who Tom Toia was or is?
KAREN CRAWOFRD, PRESIDENT OF LIST: That's right.
ZARRELLA: Crawford said she assumed Toia was an investigator at the time because he was calling List to order toxins. Toia, it turns out, wasn't even a doctor. He was the son of the man who owned the clinic.
B. KAPLAN: We're incensed that any individual can call, purchase this, give a credit card over the phone and have it be shipped via our United States Postal Service.
ZARRELLA: While federal regulations are strict about who has the right to possess deadly toxins, no checks are built into the law to ensure enforcement when it comes to small unregulated amounts of toxins.
Shockingly enough the law does not require Crawford to check the identity of buyers like Toia. Crawford says in her deposition that List changed their practices and now reviews all customers who order Botulinum Toxin A.
List declined to comment for this story. And List denies any liability in the Kaplan lawsuit.
So who is responsible for protecting us from knockoff medical products? The Food and Drug Administration? The FDA declined to talk to us on camera, instead giving us this statement, quote, "It would be beyond the FDA's jurisdiction to investigate every shipment of Botulinum toxin. However, it is illegal to ship Botulinum toxin for administration to humans if one does not have an investigational new drug application." End quote.
Even though the CDC created the regulations on toxins like Botulinum, it wouldn't talk to us on camera either. They referred us back to the FDA and told us in a statement that making toxins available for education and research needed to be ensured.
Gerald Epstein, a senior science and security fellow in Washington says Botulinum toxin is vital for research, but more checks need to be this place.
EPSTEIN: Crimes have been committed. And whether it's the FDA's own regulation or not, the FDA ought to care and they ought to bring the names of those folks in front of people who can actually prosecute them.
ZARRELLA: Beyond the potential danger to other patients, Eric Kaplan also worries about national security issues.
E. KAPLAN: So I could go out and start a corporation called al Qaeda Research Facility. Al Qaeda Research Facility can call List biologicals and order this toxin. And I'm scared.
ZARRELLA: The Kaplans say they have already rejected a settlement offer from List and plan to go to trial by the end of the year. But they've already won the biggest battle -- they survived. They made it through months of intense rehabilitation, getting off life support, learning to talk and walk and live again.
(On camera): You still have to marvel yourself at this somewhat miraculous recovery.
E. KAPLAN: You know, someone asked me, John, and I don't consider myself a religious person, but a spiritual person. They said, what did I learn from this whole event? And if I came out with one quick answer, it would be God is real. It's a miracle that we're here. It's a miracle that we're together.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): John Zarrella, CNN, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Even though millions of Americans use Botox for at least a dozen health conditions, the truth is, there is much about the so- called wonder drug that we don't know about.
I asked 360 M.D. Sanjay Gupta to give us the facts on Botox. He joined me earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Sanjay, millions of people get Botox injections. How risky is it?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, for the most part, for the average person, it's going to be pretty safe.
But remember we're talking about a toxin here, Anderson. It is Botulinum toxin. And what this toxin does, it actually, when you inject it, it actually temporarily paralyzes some of the muscles. I mean, that's exactly how it's supposed to work. And you get sort of that smoothing of the skin on top of it.
But it's in very, very small amounts, minuscule amounts. The story there, you know, with the Kaplans, they got 2,800 times the amount they should have received. So that's obviously going to cause more than temporary sort of paralysis as you saw with them.
But if you take it appropriately it should be pretty safe and just a few months.
COOPER: How do you guarantee that you can get safe treatment?
GUPTA: Yes, that's a good question. It's a hard question in some ways. Some obvious things, you want to make sure that you're actually talking to a doctor that does this procedure.
I mean, you've heard about the Botox parties. That's probably not a good idea in terms of actually making sure you're getting somebody who does the procedure over and over again.
Also, the cost might be a little bit of a clue. I mean, typically, it should cost between $300 and $600. If someone is hawking fake Botox and maybe trying to sell it for cheap, that could be a warning sign.
Also, something else that we learned, Anderson. If you look at Botox, it's actually made by a company called Allergen. And the proper vials actually have a hologram, sort of holographic seal on the bottle. Look for that seal, for sure. That will be a clue as well. You see it right there. That will be a clue that you're getting the real stuff.
COOPER: And how do you know if you're actually having a case of botulism from a bad Botox treatment?
GUPTA: Yes, you know, botulism and the toxin sort of reaction is a pretty specific reaction. You get all sorts of different symptoms. You might have sort of a general feeling of discomfort, just feeling uncomfortable. But your eyelids might start to get droopy, you might have blurred vision as well, your speech might start to slur, you get dry mouth so much so that you have a hard time speaking and a hard time swallowing. Then gradually, and can kind of frightening, your muscles get weak including the muscles of your diaphragm. So you may have a hard time breathing, as well. And that's why people might actually die from Botox poisoning. If you get put on a ventilator and get treatment pretty quickly, you can survive it.
COOPER: Well, I notice that you have wrinkles on your forehead as do I, so.
GUPTA: I guess it's not working. COOPER: I know you're not speaking from experience. Sanjay, thanks.
GUPTA: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Today, a decision on the Enron trial. We'll have a reaction to the jury's verdict, what former workers, who lost millions have to say. That's next.
Plus, the Reverend Pat Robertson claims he can leg press 2,000 pounds. We'll put his claim to the test when 360 continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: In business news tonight, the verdict in the Enron trial. Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling once had everything. Now they'll face up to 30 years behind bars. Which means that Lay, Enron's founder and Skilling, its former CEO, may spend the rest of their lives in prison. The decision is probably little or no comfort for ex-Enron employees who saw their pensions vanish as Enron collapsed.
CNN's Ali Velshi has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHARLIE PRESTWOOD, RETIRED 33 YEAR ENRON EMPLOYEE: You get caught why your hand in the cookie jar, you get your hand cut off.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Charlie Prestwood couldn't contain his joy when he heard the verdict of the Enron trial on his little TV with one working channel.
PRESTWOOD: I feel a whole lot better. I feel like justice has been served.
VELSHI: Prestwood worked more than three decades at a power plant that was bought by Enron. Welding and filling gas tanks, hard work. And he loved it.
PRESTWOOD: When I hook back over my life, I see one great big 33-1/2 year void. I worked so hard.
VELSHI: Like so many Enron millionaires, Prestwood retired early six years ago to enjoy his golden years. And like others, he thought he had enough money.
PRESTWOOD: $1,310,507.47.
VELSHI (on camera): Charlie Prestwood's retirement fund was loaded with Enron stock, stock that started to nosedive. But his faith in the company and the relentless cheerleading of Enron executives stopped him from dumping his shares while he had the chance. PRESTWOOD: I was still listening to the executives. They said hang on. Ken Lay was saying hang on, we're just having a bad slump, but it will come back, it will do this and do that. And so therefore, we didn't sell our stock.
VELSHI (voice-over): A decision Prestwood regrets every day.
PRESTWOOD: Right after Enron started down and went down, right after they started that, well everybody said, oh, you should have diversified. You ought to have done this and done that.
VELSHI: Now that $1.3 million worth of Enron stock is gone. In fact, Enron's collapse lost more than $2 billion in retirement funds. Now Prestwood and his girlfriend of 20 years, Helen, are living on social security and a $100 a month Enron pension.
PRESTWOOD: I'm living 180 degrees of what I had planned on living. I had planned of Helen and I -- we'd do some sightseeing. But man, right now, I guarantee you I'd have to make a loan to go to the county line.
VELSHI: Suffering heart problems, Prestwood can barely afford his monthly medicine, dinner and feed for his two beloved horses. Home repairs left undone. Prestwood blames Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling for everything.
PRESTWOOD: Now they're going to know how we feel, to be confined. We've been confined because of, you know what I mean, no money.
VELSHI: Charlie Prestwood says he spent more than half his life serving a company that eventually gave him nothing in return. Nothing, except the satisfaction of a guilty verdict.
Ali Velshi, CNN, Houston.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling became household names, but the Reporter Bethany McLean, who started their great unraveling, did not. However at a congressional hearing Congressman Henry Waxman highlighted her very basic, but very profound question.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. HENRY WAXMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: In March 2001, Bethany McLean, a reporter with "Fortune" magazine, first raised questions about Enron's financial condition. She asked a simple question in the article that no one could seem to answer -- how exactly does Enron make its money?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, Bethany McLean, now an editor at large for "Fortune" magazine, is in Houston tonight. We spoke earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Bethany, you were the first journalist to question Enron before the scandal erupted. You wrote an article titled, "Is Enron Overpriced?" What do you think of the verdict?
BETHANY MCLEAN, "FORTUNTE" EDITOR AT LARGE: I think it's the right verdict. It's hard to sit there in that courtroom for four months and see both defendants and see their families every day and not come to view them as humans, albeit deeply flawed humans.
But after listening to the weight of the evidence presented in Houston, it was hard to believe that the jury would come back with not guilty verdicts.
COOPER: You wrote a fascinating book called, "The Smartest Guys in the Room." It was turned into this well-known documentary now. I want to take a look at a clip which shows how traders from Enron would create artificial energy shortages by actually shutting down plants. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID, ENRON TRADER: Hi, this is David up at Enron. There's not much demand for power. If we shut it down, could you bring it back up in three or four hours?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh yes.
DAVID: Why don't you just go ahead and shut her down then, if that's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: It's pretty amazing that they would do that. I mean, it did a lot to the economy in California, didn't it?
MCLEAN: Absolutely. And what you see there is the incredible arrogance of people at Enron, how they had come to believe that making money not only was the most important thing, but that it justified almost any kind of behavior. And you saw that in spades in California.
COOPER: And Ken Lay was the founder of really one of the biggest companies. What was it like to see him on the witness stand? Because everyone thought, we'll put him on the stand. It was a risky move, but they thought, you know, he's this respectable guy who was a CEO, and he would come off really well. He didn't, did he?
MCLEAN: No. It's an odd experience. Because Ken Lay in the courtroom has been gracious, to reporters, to prosecutors. He's been polite, he's been friendly. And we all expected him to just turn in a masterful performance on the witness stand. Instead, he pretty much self-destructed.
I think most observers felt that that was when the tide of the trial really began to turn in favor of the prosecution.
COOPER: You've been looking into this company for years. What have you learned from all this?
MCLEAN: I think the biggest lesson to me has been that things aren't black and white. You look back on the Enron story and it really is a story of rationalization and of self-delusion.
When Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay tell us today that they're innocent, on some level they really believe that. They've created their own worldview. And that happens all too frequently in corporate America.
COOPER: You think they really do believe they're innocent?
MCLEAN: I think on some level, they really do believe it, yes. And I think it's a very human process of self-delusion and rationalization. I used to think the world was as simple if you're guilty, you know it; and if you're not guilty, you don't. I don't often think -- we all operate on a lot of different levels.
COOPER: Denial ain't just a river. Bethany McLean, appreciate you joining us. Thanks.
MCLEAN: Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Coming up, he's the preacher who says he can leg press 2,000 pounds. But Pat Robertson's latest claim might not carry much weight. We'll talk with a real bodybuilder, just for the fun of it. Next, on 360.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, time now for the shot, a favorite picture of the day. Tonight's shot comes by way of AndrewSullivan.com, which posted a link to this ad.
Now it's for an allegedly age-defying natural shake, created and endorsed by Televangelist Pat Robertson. Now, see what it says in the ad. It says that Pat Robertson, through rigorous training, leg- pressed 2,000 pounds. How did he do it? The ad asked.
That's the question we wanted to know. Two thousand pounds? I'm a wimp, I admit it. But 2,000 pounds is a lot. Two thousand pounds is the weight of a VW bug. A full-grown polar bear weighs 1,600 pounds. Two thousand pounds, that's like roughly 20 Lindsay Lohans. Yes. Or, you know, Lindsay Lohan is a good one. Or I guess it would be like 10 of the -- who are the sisters? Who are the twins? The Olsen twins. That's like 10 Olsen twins.
Pat Robertson has even made a promotional video for his drink, in which he says he's leg-pressing 1,000 pounds. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAT ROBERTSON, TELEVANGELIST: I just do a few of these. OK. Then you can try. Are you ready? Remember, Christy, I hope I can get it up there. Man, that's tough.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's it. That's it. That's it. OK, stop.
ROBERTSON: Eight, nine, 10.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: I could watch that all night. Now, by way of comparison, this is a picture of Dan Kendra, a quarterback at FSU. He leg pressed 1,335 pounds. And according to Sports Columnist Clay Travis, when Kendra leg-pressed that amount, the capillaries in his eyes burst. Yes.
We were so surprised by Robertson's claim and his age-defying elixir, we decided to check in with an expert. So we called upon Jerry Anderson, a former Mr. Natural Universe and current trainer at Bally's Fitness in Los Angeles. We spoke earlier, just for fun.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So Jerry, what do you think of Pat Robertson's claim that he can leg-press 2,000 pounds?
JERRY ANDERSON, TRAINER, BALLY FITNESS: Wow, man. That's almost crazy -- 2,000 pounds? That's a lot of weight. Right now, Anderson, on the bar, I have 1,000 pounds on here right now. You would have to extend that all the way out to here to put 2,000. Wow, 1,000 pounds is a lot.
Hey, I'm going to try to do it. I'm Mr. Natural Universe. I'll try to move it for you guys a couple times. Make sure that you replay this.
COOPER: All right. Well, let me just ask you though, is a machine even built that you could put 2,000 pounds on there? Or would you have to build a machine special just to do it?
ANDERSON: You would have to like have a special-made machine to just get the ends of it out there so you can put 2,000 pounds. Two thousand pounds is a lot of weight. I mean, if you're going to move it from the full range of motion, it's not easy. But if you're going to do like these little rapid reps, inch by inch, you could probably pull that off. But full range of motion is where the power is.
COOPER: All right, so you got 1,000 pounds on the leg press right now. Let's see how you do it properly.
ANDERSON: Ooh, this is a no glasses job right here, Anderson. I have to take the glasses off. One thousand pounds. Whoo. Whoa. I got my Bally's Total Fitness Spotter right here with me to make sure everything's OK. Because when you're using power, you should always have a spotter. OK, I should be able to do at least three.
Showtime, baby. Roar! Whoo! One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. Oh!
Whoa! My goodness gracious. Whoo!
So, that was tough. It looked hard.
ANDERSON: Whoo! That was hard, man. But you know what? It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. You know?
COOPER: All right, so the bottom line is, I mean watching you do that, there is no way that Pat Robertson, who is 76 years old, leg- pressed 2,000 pounds?
ANDERSON: I mean, if he can leg-press 2,000 pounds, that's totally amazing, full range of motion with all the power. You may be able to do a short range, but full range, very, very difficult. But if he's able to do it, he's a great guy.
COOPER: Well, because I'm looking at this video now we're showing of him doing it. And he's actually pushing his thighs. Is that allowed?
ANDERSON: Wow! What I call that is -- that's not a leg press, that's a chest press. You're using your hands and chest. So, you're supposed to just use your quadriceps. Full range of motion. That's the way to do it.
COOPER: His spokesman stands by the claim. It says, quote, "When 2,000 pounds was put on the machine, two men got on either side and helped push the load up and then let it down on Mr. Robertson, who pushed it up one rep and let it go down again. We have multiple witnesses to the 2,000 pound leg press, plus video of the 10 reps of the 1,000 pounds."
ANDERSON: Whoo!
COOPER: I guess maybe they built a special machine. They didn't seem to indicate a special machine, but maybe we'll try to get some video of him actually doing the 2,000 pounds.
Jerry, I'm impressed you could do 1,000.
ANDERSON: No problem.
COOPER: You know, maybe you could get some pointers from Pat Robertson.
ANDERSON: Yes, then if I get some pointers from him, then I could do one leg with 1,000 pounds, and I'd go up to 2,000, I'm done deal. It's in there. You got it going on. Yes. Whoo!
COOPER: Jerry Anderson, Former Mr. Natural Universe. Thanks very much.
ANDERSON: Thank you. Have a great day. Hah!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Makes me laugh every time I see it.
By the way, Madeline Albright says she can leg-press 400 pounds. I can't leg-press anything because I'm a wimp.
So maybe Pat Robertson can do it.
More of 360 in a moment. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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