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Consumer Reports: Don't Buy New Lexus SUV; Dow Breaks 11,000 Mark; Apolo Ohno Promoting Healthy Living to Teens

Aired April 13, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: Glad to be with you, in for Ali Velshi this week. We've got a lot coming up. I'm going to take you for the next two hours, going to take you to every important topic. We're going to cover, break it down for you, try to give you a level of detail that will help you make important decisions about security, health, money, our world.

Let's get started, shall we? Here's what we've got on the run down. Toyota's new luxury model SUV taken on a test drive. And the testers didn't like where they wound up. Now they're telling you actually not to buy this. How big a deal is it? I'm going to talk to a top tester at "Consumer Reports" and a mechanic.

Plus, does the beef in your fridge contain pesticides, veterinary drugs, even heavy metals? A federal (INAUDIBLE) says it might and is blaming the federal government for failing to keep it out of your food supply.

Also another shake-up in late night. George Lopez is getting shaken. This time he's laughing it off. Well, maybe. I'll show you what he had to say.

But first, don't buy; safety risk. Those strong and rare words from "Consumer Reports" magazine, a very trusted source, feeding a public relations nightmare for Toyota. The carmaker's new luxury SUV, the 2010 Lexus GX460, is coming under fire from "Consumer Reports," which says it may be prone to rollovers in emergency handling situations.

We'll get into what that means in a bit. Testers for the magazine say they discovered the problem during their routine test of the SUV. That one right there. The "don't buy" designation is rarely given by "Consumer Reports." In fact, the last time was in 2001 on a Mitsubishi Montero Limited.

Let's talk about -- more about this with David Champion from "Consumer Reports" and Lauren Fix, who is an automobile analyst and a mechanic.

First, David, let's start with the actual testing. What you tested for, how specific you were, and how specific the problem is.

DAVID CHAMPION, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Well, what we do with every single car that we test at "Consumer Reports" is we put it through a whole battery of tests. There's over 50 different tests and evaluations.

One of those tests is what we call emergency handling. We do a double lane change maneuver, just to see how well it could avoid a child running out into the road. And then we also do what we call a track handling course where we go into a decreasing radius bend and then lift off the throttle just to see what happens.

And we want a car to be benign. We want a car to do what the driver thinks it should do. And with a GX460, what we found was, as soon as you dropped the throttle, the tail would come way, way out before the electronic stability control would apply the brakes and rein the car back in.

GRIFFIN: Was that the -- I mean, that's a big problem, but was that the only problem you found with this vehicle?

CHAMPION: Yes. Apart from that it was a very nice, big, luxury SUV.

GRIFFIN: And I'm assuming you talked to Toyota? I mean, Lexus, about this?

CHAMPION: Yes.

GRIFFIN: And they -- they said, "Thanks for the information," right?

CHAMPION: Basically, yes. You know, they test the car thoroughly through all the different tests, but maybe this one they didn't quite get to the point that we did. And we don't think it's a good vehicle for people to be driving on the road.

GRIFFIN: Let me read Toyota's statement before we get any farther, Lauren, because I want to ask you about Toyota's nightmare here. This is what Lexus had to say: "Our engineers conduct similar tests. We feel these procedures provide a good indication of how our vehicles will perform in the real world. We will try to duplicate the 'Consumer Reports' test to determine if appropriate steps need to be taken."

This is not a very complex test to duplicate, Lauren. I mean, I'm assuming that Toyota Lexus has already done this test.

LAUREN FIX, AUTOMOBILE ANALYST: Well, you'd like to think so. And "Consumer Reports" is an extremely reliable source. Many consumers rely on them. And I know David and I know that they're very reliable and what they do and how they test.

However, the average consumer would run into that situation on an on-ramp or an off-ramp, depending upon which one they're on. And if they do run into this situation, when's the last time that they were trained on how to handle that? I mean, as drivers and people that test-drive cars, we know what to do when cars get out of hand. But the average consumer has no clue. And that's when the trouble starts to occur. If this happens to a consumer, they don't need another nightmare, even though it's a beautiful luxury car. GRIFFIN: Lauren, it shouldn't happen, though, right? The electronic stability control system should take care of this and has taken care of this in past models of this vehicle. So what's the problem for Toyota, Lexus, and what's the fix?

FIX: Well, the first thing is they need to be testing these vehicles for every everyday possibility that consumers would run into before letting that car released to the consumer.

Now, "Consumer Reports" will do everything that the average consumer will drive, and when they've have problems on their test track, they report them. And they have no pressures either way from any manufacturer, so they have no reason but to tell the truth.

So for you as a consumer, you need to test drive these cars in your everyday world. And if you're having these problems, Lexus needs to repair them. If that means repairing the stability control, repairing how the computer works in conjunction with the braking system or the throttle, that needs to be handled prior to it being released to consumers. It is a great vehicle except for this one very serious problem.

GRIFFIN: It's a big black eye on a company already in trouble. David, there's only 5,000 of these cars out there. It's a new model. Is this easily remedied by Toyota if they act quickly?

CHAMPION: I think it would be relatively easy to fix. You know, there's so many different algorithms that they use in the electronic control module to control the ESC system. So really in some ways, all they really need to do is reprogram the ESC to prevent this happening.

And it's strange that, in the past, most Toyota vehicles and Lexus vehicles have a very aggressive electronic stability control system that doesn't allow the vehicle to move out of its -- its normal track in any way. This vehicle just allows you to go far too far.

GRIFFIN: Yes, OK, thanks, guys. Lauren, David, thank you very much.

If there's anything good out of this it is that just 5,000 of these are on the road for Toyota Lexus. They cost about 50 grand or more. So we're not talking about a big market share for this company that's already reeling with other problems.

Well, hitting the road on her own, or the air, we should say. Michelle Obama making her first solo overseas trip as first lady. The first stop: right now, she's in Haiti. We're going to fill you in on her jam-packed itinerary.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: A first for the first lady. Michelle Obama is making her first solo overseas trip as the first lady. Right now she's in Haiti, a first stop that wasn't announced on her schedule by the White House until she landed just a short while ago. Making the trip with her is the vice president's wife, Jill Biden. Her time there will be short: only about six hours. But enough time to check on earthquake recovery, give a speech at the U.N. base there. The arrival comes the day after the three-month anniversary of Haiti's deadly January 12 quake.

From Haiti, Ms. Obama heads for Mexico, a three-day visit jam- packed with events, according to the White House. The purpose of this visit is to emphasize the deep ties between United States and Mexico. The backdrop, of course, Mexico's drug war, drug trafficking, and sticky immigration issues with Washington.

Mrs. Obama's events tomorrow will include talks with Mexico's first lady. She's going to deliver a speech to university students, have a reception with women leaders, and attend a dinner hosted by Mexico's president.

On Thursday, Mrs. Obama plans to have breakfast with young Mexican leaders and visit the U.S. embassy before returning home to Washington.

Well, the Dow closed above 11,000 yesterday. Where is it today? Where will it go tomorrow? Ooh, Stephanie Elam looking into the crystal ball. She'll have the stock report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC: "SO HARD")

GRIFFIN: Hey, Stephanie Elam is in New York, watching all of that money.

Hey, the Dow is hanging tough, just above 11,000 there, Stephanie. Glad to have you here.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is. I'm trying to figure out -- thank you, Drew. I was trying to figure out what "So Hard" had to do with the market. I guess it's so hard to stay above 11,000?

GRIFFIN: You know what's so hard?

ELAM: Which would be true. What's so hard?

GRIFFIN: So hard to decide whether to sell or buy when it reaches these milestone moments. And I think that's kind of why everybody is hovering around 11,000, right? What are we doing? Are we going up or down?

ELAM: Yes. We're doing a little -- we're doing what I call the flat line dance. I know we haven't talked about that together, Drew, but that's basically where we're just kind of dancing a little above and a little below the break-even mark.

And really, when you think about 11,000, what does it really mean to any of us? It doesn't really mean anything other than it's a nice little psychological barrier for us to have in mind. And if you look at the last couple of weeks, it's really taken a while to get to this point. Just because it's been a slow movement for the last couple of weeks for us to get to this point. Last week we got within 12 points. We still couldn't do it. We touched it briefly on Friday, but then we pulled back.

And so take a look at a chart that we have for you. It shows the Dow over the past year. And it really has been a steady climb. Take a look at that. I mean, you've got your little downs and your little ups. But for the most part it's going in the right direction there. You can see NASDAQ up about 50 percent over the same period. The S&P 500 up about 40 percent.

So when you take a look at it, Drew, and you think what does this mean to me? It means your investments, your retirements, your 401(k), all of those accounts are doing better. If you still have them in there, still invested, they're looking better for you.

This is what we want to see happen. And hopefully, it will make businesses feel like, "Hey, we can do a little bit more spending if people start spending." All in all...

GRIFFIN: Yes, that's a good question. Yes. Go ahead. Overall?

ELAM: No, just all in all, it's one of those things that it's getting better, but it doesn't mean that it's a perfect picture just yet.

GRIFFIN: Well, I guess the big question for dummies like me is, the Dow 11,000 still means I don't have as much money as I did back in the day, right? So we're still trying to get to that upward climb. And what's going to happen to say, hey, we're going up or there's going to be a second pullback? Is it earnings from these companies?

ELAM: Right. Well, we've got a multitude of things that we have to look at. You're right: the highest we ever got on the Dow was in the 14,000 area. We're obviously not there yet. There's a lot of things -- most of these recoveries don't go back in straight arrows. And it probably won't be that way at all.

But if you take a look at where we are, we've had a lot of hesitation because a lot of investors are waiting for earnings season. And that just started last night. And so some of this may already be priced into stock.

Some analysts say the market may be peaking right now. So we might not see any major movements until we get more definitive signs on what the economy is doing. And that's not all bad. You know, the faster you climb, sometimes the sharper you can fall. So we don't want to see that at all.

So taking a look at these earnings is really going to help us decide what the market is thinking of the overall economy right now.

GRIFFIN: Yes. We may be getting a little bit too into the weeds here, but is there hesitation also among the companies in terms of hiring, in terms of capital growth, in terms of investment, based on all the changes we're seeing in Washington, the various tax cuts that are going to disappear, the various taxes that are coming on along the lines of the health care, and kind of the uncertainty among small business about how this is going to play out? It seems like we're all just frozen.

ELAM: Sure. I mean, there's a whole bunch of reasons that -- if you take a look at it, companies have been afraid to hire, because they're not sure if the economy is getting better. Right? So they're not hiring. That puts unemployment at just these really high levels. That causes the government to say, "We need to figure out things that we can do."

But right now you've got unemployment at 9.7 percent. It peaked so far at just over 10 percent, and that was last October. So if you can see this is showing that the companies are feeling this pain, right? You can see that, if this means that they're not making any better decisions, as far as employment is concerned, is because they don't feel like demand is there for your business. That needs to pick up in order to help the economy.

But it's one of those weird things where you need the consumer to spend, but the consumer doesn't have money. They can't do that.

One thing I also want to point out, as far as jobs are concerned and these companies, is that unemployment is always going to lag in the recovery. I know when things get better, you're thinking everything should look better all around. Well, unemployment is probably going to take some time after that. It may not peak until after a full year after the recession ends. You've got to factor in the housing market, the job market, credit markets, all of that.

And then keep in mind, Drew, we heard yesterday that the official group that decides when a recession is over is saying they're not ready to make the call just yet. So it shows there's still a lot of uncertainty out there. There's no doubt that the companies are hearing that, too.

GRIFFIN: All right. Well, I'm going to send all those group people a note, telling them, "Let's make that decision." Right, Stephanie? Thanks. Thanks for joining us from New York.

ELAM: Move me in the right direction.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Stephanie part of the best economic team on television. You can tell why, right? You can catch them on "YOUR $$$$$," hosted by Ali Velshi and Christine Romans Saturday at 1 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern.

Checking some headlines now.

The nuclear summit in Washington doesn't end until later today, but there's more progress to report. The U.S., Canada, and Mexico will help convert fuel to -- Mexico's nuke research reactor to a lower grade uranium, making it unsuitable for nuclear weapons. At the start of today's session, President Obama warned that the risk of a nuke attack from terrorists is on the rise.

In West Virginia, the last of the bodies of 29 men killed in a coal mine explosion have now been recovered. A state mine official says they were removed from deep inside that sprawling Upper Big Branch Mine earlier today. Federal and state investigators now plan to determine what exactly caused the explosion.

And in Iceland, an American Airlines jetliner made an emergency landing after passengers complained of fumes in the cabin. It was Flight 49 bound from Dallas for Paris when the landing was made. A few of the 145 people on board complained of dizziness from fumes. The incident under investigation.

And our sister company TBS just made some headlines with yesterday's announcement that it signed Conan O'Brien. Conan, of course, left NBC after the network went to give his time slot back to Jay Leno. So you can imagine it raised eye brows when TBS announced Conan would be taking George Lopez's time lot on TBS.

So what did Mr. Lopez have to say about that? Here he is last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE LOPEZ, HOST, LATE NIGHT SHOW: So I want to say that I'm completely 100 percent on board with this move. I talked to Conan on Wednesday, and I talked to him last night. And I said, "I welcome you into my deep, loving embrace." Everybody has heard of "I'm with Coco," but now everybody can go loco!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRIFFIN: You know, both those guys on cable now, unleashed. It's going to be interesting. And it's Lopez tonight on "LARRY KING LIVE." Much more from Lopez on his new colleague and his new time slot. Nine p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

Hey, this guy scored gold in Olympic speed skating, but now Apolo Ohno is touring the U.S. with a shining message for America's teens. And he stopped by CNN this morning. You're going to hear from him.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: You know, I didn't see this guy "Dance with the Stars," but I did see him skate in those Olympics. He's terrific. Some say there isn't a challenge he can't conquer. Apolo Anton Ohno, the most decorated U.S. athlete in the history of the winter Olympics.

He's got a new goal, though, these days. Ohno on a nationwide campaign to stop underage drinking and start getting more kids into healthy lifestyles. He spoke on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

APOLO OHNO, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: It's a kind of very cool, interactive game. And it basically allows kids to play -- it's a video game. OK? Instead of just, you know, sitting there with your fingers, you have to be active. So there's going to be running in place or jumping, then moving around, all while they're -- they have to answer some questions...

JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": Right.

OHNO: ... that come with the game, whether it's about active lifestyle, about healthy decisions with food, nutrition, you know, alcohol-related questions. So it's a fun, easy way for kids to basically learn how to, you know, not only empower their bodies but also their brain at the same time.

ROBERTS: What's the theory behind getting them active while they're playing this game?

OHNO: Well, I mean, there's a lot of research coming out right now and that has in the past that just shows that your brain is -- actually performs at its peak when you're most active.

I know as an athlete, you know, when I was -- when I was performing, on the days when I would have a rest day or have an off day, I felt a little bit sluggish.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right.

OHNO: And even though, you know, post-Olympic games, I notice that the days that I don't have time to work out, that's when I feel kind of least productive. So if I can just fit in 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 90 minutes here and there, I'm working at a different pace.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: He is touring middle schools all over the country to get his message out. You can learn more at AskListenLearn.com.

Chad, I don't know if you had a chance to talk to him. He was in here this morning. Pretty nice guy.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I didn't see him.

GRIFFIN: Yes. He was -- just walked right by me. I was like, "Hey."

MYERS: "Hey, I know you. I saw you on the short track." That short track compared to the long track speed skating is just amazing. Isn't it?

GRIFFIN: It's so cool.

MYERS: It's almost like roller derby.

GRIFFIN: Exactly. They even dressed like them.

MYERS: They do. They do.

GRIFFIN: All right. So you're going to knock down this pollen, because I'm (INAUDIBLE)?

MYERS: Finally, finally. Look at this. Finally the rain showers coming through New York, Philadelphia, down to D.C., mixing it up with all the pollen and washing it down the drain.

Also kind of washing down, the airports a little bit, too. There you go. D.C., 45 minutes. LaGuardia, 30. But I've seen many larger delays than this on a -- on an afternoon such as this, people trying to get out of town, some people still trying to get back from spring break, whatever they're still doing.

So there's the whole story. The story is that there's a front that runs right through here. That's separating the cold air on one side and the warm air on the other side. So it will be in the 80s in Memphis. We'll be cold in the 40s and 50s across parts of the Northeast.

And, in fact, going to pan you right over here to New York City. Right in this area and on up the -- up the river just a little bit, there will be frost tonight. So we've been 60, 70, 80 degrees. And tonight, you have to make sure that the tomatoes aren't out.

GRIFFIN: Yes. I'm trying to think, are they already planting?

MYERS: No, it should not be planted yet. What you want to do is you just want to put them on a little cart. Put them out in the sun during the day; bring them back in the garage at night. Back and forth.

GRIFFIN: Meteorologist, farmer.

MYERS: Yes.

GRIFFIN: Travel consultant.

MYERS: Grew up in Nebraska.

GRIFFIN: Hey, there's more to follow of the 7-year-old boy being shipped back to Russia by his adoptive American family. You've heard this story. Wait. His return both unescorted and unannounced has outraged Russia and prompted calls for a freeze on all adoptions to America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: It's one of those more bizarre stories of the year, the adoption case sparking global outrage. It involves a 7-year-old boy adopted by a Tennessee family. Then they put him on a flight alone back to Russia, return to sender, basically. The family says the boy was violent, showed signs of psychotic behavior.

Right now, the sheriff in Tennessee is investigating whether to file charges. Meanwhile, Russia up in arms over this. One step closer to putting a freeze on all adoptions the U.S. families.

CNN's Ivan Watson has that part of the story from Moscow. But we're going to go to Martin Savidge, who is in Tennessee first. Martin, I know the sheriff is investigating. But I guess the question is investigating what? The State Department can't seem to find evidence of an actual crime.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, the State Department has pretty much said they don't believe there were any federal laws that were violated in this particular case, so they have dumped the whole investigation into the lap of the local sheriff. And they basically tasked him with the job to find out if there were any state or local laws broken in this particular case.

I just got off the phone, actually, with Chuck Crawford. He's the district attorney. In fact, today, the sheriff and the district attorney put their heads together to figure out where to go next in this investigation. Yesterday they were very disappointed to hear that the adoptive American family has said through their attorney they're not going to cooperate with this investigation. They're not going to meet with the sheriff. Something they said they had been willing to do until apparently yesterday afternoon. So, that's all changed.

And now it's been very difficult for them to move forward in this investigation. They did say that what they would like to do is talk to the boy in this case. And, of course, the boy is in Russia. So, trying to make that happen is the next hurdle they're dealing with.

Imagine, local sheriff, small office, dealing with an international incident. We're talking about different customs, talking about different time zones, 5,700 miles away. And then not to mention language issues of dealing with other government agencies in another country. Very tough.

GRIFFIN: Yes. I just can't imagine even just the budgetary questions. I'm sure the local sheriff doesn't have the money to even send one investigator over to Moscow to talk about this.

SAVIDGE: Well, and you know, this is so out of their realm. As the sheriff said, you know, he was asked, you know, can he handle this case. He said, I certainly -- my department is professional enough to handle this case, but he really does believe this is way above his pay grade when it comes to trying to resolve an international issue between Russia and the United States.

And as I mentioned, all the problems he's up against, but on top of that, there are the emotions here. This is a story that generates a lot of emotions, particularly if you're a parent. The sheriff is a parent. I spoke to him about what is it like to wrestle with the professional side versus the parental side. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF RANDAL BOYCE, BEDFORD COUNTY, TENNESEE: The last thing we want is some child to be mistretreated. I've got kids and grandkids. I would be furious. But on the other hand, if there's no laws on the books to deal with it, they won't. SAVIDGE: You have to set emotion aside.

BOYCE: Yes, you've got to be professional and do the right thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE: Doing the right thing is what they want to do. But as you also heard him say, the laws on the books. The two issues they're looking at here. Was there abandonment? And right now, it appears the child was in the custody of an adult all of the way through to being delivered to Moscow and then beyond to the government agency that deals with children in Moscow.

And then, also, could there have been any abuse? And that's what they're trying to investigate now. They've asked for medical records to come from Russia, and they've also asked for what they call a forensic interview, a videotaped interview asking specific questions, asking the child to show and tell things about what his life was like while he was here in the United States.

GRIFFIN: All right, Martin, thanks a lot.

Let's go to Moscow. Ivan Watson is there. You know, people in Russia are outraged, people in Tennessee and here in the United States are all outraged over this. But what is the government fallout from this in Moscow? What's being done as far as trying to push some kind of punishment on, I don't know, the U.S., the parents, whatever?

IVAN WATSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Drew, I think the government is continuing to voice outrage. This case comes after several high-profile cases over course of the last several years of Russian adopted children who were abused and, in some case, even killed after being adopted and brought to the U.S.

So, I spoke to Russia's top child's welfare official today. And I put the question to him, you know, there have been warnings of a freeze of U.S. adoptions. Is a freeze actually in place? This is what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAVEL ASTAKHOV, RUSSIAN CHILD RIGHTS OMBUDSMAN (through translator): All the examination show the boy to be completely healthy, physically and mentally. So, nobody withheld anything from him. It's a lie. But when I asked how the mother treated him, he burst into tears and said she used to pull his hair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So I've spoken to a Russian ombudsman in charge of welfare, Drew, and he said there is a freeze. We've done follow-up calls, and it doesn't appear a formal order has gone out. So, we have spoken with the U.S. ambassador here whether, in fact, American families who are desperate to adopt Russian children -- and more than 50,000 have been adopted in the last 16 years from Russia. And he says, no, people should not panic.

In fact, there's a delegation of American diplomats that is scheduled to be coming here within this month to work out what the Russians are demanding right now. And that is a new bilateral agreement to govern this huge number of adoptions between these two countries. Let's take a listen to what that U.S. ambassador had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BYERLE, AMERICAN AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA: -- opposed to send a delegation out here next week to begin those talks with the Russian government. Russian government has now told us informally that that's exceptable. We're working out the dates.

So, I would say to American families that are in the process of adoption, not to worry too much. We're working on this. And well really don't think this will have any long-term affect on the ability of American families to adopt here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: And, in fact, drew, Russian and American officials are telling me that it should be a matter of months before this new proposed agreement is completed and signed. Drew?

GRIFFIN: And 50,000 kids in the last, what, ten years, you said?

WATSON: That's right. Between 1,000 and 1,500 a year.

Another interesting statistic here. According to Russian statistics from 2008, Drew, there are more than 700,000 children living in state institutions. That was in 2008, without their parents.

But a surprising fact, that is not the case in many other countries. More than 80 percent of those children, and this is according to the United Nations Children's Fund, more than 80 percent of them do have a parent that is still alive but the state has separated them from their parent due to a wide range of social reasons.

GRIFFIN: Boy, I just feel bad for all of these kids. The kid on the plane, all those kids still in Russia without parents taking care of them.

Thanks, Ivan. We'll continue to follow this story with you.

Two big space stories today. Final space walk for the astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery. And remember this? The anniversary of Apollo 13 disaster. We're going to look ahead, and take a look back in time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING) GRIFFIN: Knew that was coming. I knew "Rocket Man" was coming.

Astronauts aboard the space shuttle Discovery are wrapping up their mission this week. Today, they completed their third and final space walk. The crew installed ammonium storage tank but still having some problems with this. Engineers unable to fix a valve on that tank, which is a back-up in case there's a leak in the space station's cooling system. It can get really hot quick. Discovery is scheduled to disconnect from the space station Saturday, returns to earth on Monday.

There's only three space shuttle launches left before the program is retired. And President Obama is scheduled to be at NASA in Florida this Thursday. Talked to some very nervous NASA employees and contractors about the 2011 budget. That budget scraps the shuttle program and redirects resources into deep space exploration and the international space station.

Also, big anniversary this week for NASA and space exploration. Forty years ago, the flight of Apollo 13 became one of the near disasters of Apollo flight when an oxygen tank in the Apollo service module ruptured, damaged several of the power, electrical and life support systems. NASA, a person on the ground and the crew well on their way to the moon worked together to find a safe way home. The astronauts and NASA engineers on the ground found that the lunar module, a self-contained spacecraft, was unaffected and could be used as lifeboat and life support for the return trip. The crew did return safely April 17th, 1970.

Here's our top stories.

We are following any developments out of Israel. They issued an urgent warping for citizens to get out of the Egypt's Siani Peninsula, citing evidence of an expected terrorist attempt to kidnap Israelis there. That is according to the Associated Press. Egyptian security officials say 35,000 Israelis are in the peninsula right now.

It is day two of the nuclear summit in Washington. President Obama describing the world's nuclear reality as a cruel irony of history. He says the risk of nuclear war among nations is down, but the threat of nuclear terrorism way up. He says in the wrong hands, an apple-size amount of plutonium is enough for widespread destruction.

Also in D.C., former CEO of Washington Mutual defending his bank to a Senate panel. That panel, by the way, alleging that the company's mortgage lending practices were filled with fraud. Internal memos and e-mails from WAMU executives were released by the panel, allegedly showing executives were aware of the risks. Washington Mutual, the biggest bank ever to fail in U.S. history.

Well, the cows, they look healthy. Beef tastes great. But we eat what they eat. And what we don't know about that can hurt us. We'll break it down right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GRIFFIN: OK. If it's lunchtime where you live and you're sitting down to a big burger, cheesesteak, a real steak, I want to say right up front, enjoy. It is probably completely safe. Aside from cholesterol issues that you already know about.

But you should also know some nasty continents can and do turn up in the beef Americans buy and eat. We're probably most familiar with the so-called pathogen germs, E. Coli, salmonella.

But chemicals can be just as bad if not worse. Think about pesticides from the crops cattle eat, the drugs they're given, directly or otherwise. Policing all this is the Food Safety and Inspection Service, FSIS, an arm of the Agriculture Department. But it relies on two other agencies as well, the FDA and the EPA to set limits on pesticides, pollutants and drugs.

And a new AD Department audit finds critical breakdowns in every step of the process. FSIS doesn't test enough, the audit finds. And for many dangerous compounds, government standards simply don't exist. Copper, for instance, arsenic -- arsenic in high enough doses can cause tumors as well as lesions, vascular disease and hypertension. Copper can cause jaundice, kidney disease, and even death.

Get this, in 2008 a shipment of U.S. beef was rejected by Mexico because it exceeded Mexican standards for copper? Since the U.S. has no copper standard, the beef was turned right around and sold right here at home in the U.S.

Peter Eisler wrote about this for "USA Today." He's an investigative reporter who's joined us before wit food safety stories, especially the meat in school lunches.

Peter, thanks for joining us. Scary article, but you know, when I read the article and I went to the OIG report, the inspector general's report, I became more outraged at the government for not getting its act together and getting these ABC organizations to coordinate.

PETER EISLER, REPORTER, "USA TODAY": Yes, they, you know, the audit was pretty strongly worded. They were very unhappy with the way that this program has been managed. They don't fill that the Food Safety and Inspection Service is testing enough or test for different chemicals and drugs in the meat that we eat. And they don't think that the Food and Drug Administration and the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, are setting strict enough tolerances on the amount of pesticides and the amount of antibiotics, for example, that can be in this beef. And as a result, these substances are getting into the meat that's sold to the public and in supermarkets.

GRIFFIN: And what really ticked me off, I must say, is when in your article and in the report itself, when they found high levels of various problems, they allowed the meat to go through anyway.

EISLER: Yes, that often has been the case. In some cases that's because, you know, they'll test for something and they'll find a particular level of, say, penicillin in beef. And there won't be an actual limit for how much is allowed in there because that -- the Food Safety and Inspection Service relies on other agencies to set those limits. So then even though they know it's in there, they have to let it go through.

GRIFFIN: We're going to read a statement from the Cattleman's Association because they're another part of this. These are the guys growing this beef. "We remain committed to working with industry and government partners to eliminate rare safety incidences from a meat supply that is extraordinarily safe by any nation's standards."

Peter, rare safety incidences and extraordinarily safe?

EISLER: Well, I mean, I don't think anyone would argue that, you know, the overwhelming majority of the beef consultants in this country certainly is safe. We are a much more regulated -- have a much more regulated beef industry than a lot of parts of the world.

I mean, you know, the other side of the coin, there certainly have been instances, as in the case you mentioned about Mexico, where, you know, beef that wouldn't be able to be sold and consumed in other parts of the world, especially in Europe where they have much tougher standards than they do here in the U.S., have made it on to the market in this country.

You know, some of the problems that we're seeing out there are things that the ranchers and the slaughterhouses really can't do much about. If beef cattle are drinking water that's run off from nearby crop land and is contaminated with pesticides, I'm not sure there's a whole lot they can do about that.

On the other hand, when you look at something like antibiotics, there's a lot of antibiotic use in the beef industry. There's been a lot of criticism of that. That's a place where a lot of people think that the industry probably could be better.

GRIFFIN: Yes. Peter, stand by. When we come back I'm going to ask you what, if anything, the consumer can do, looking at a piece of meat in the grocery store, and decide, hey, do I pick this up and take it home and cook it or not? Stand by.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Investigative reporter Peter Eisler of "USA Today" had a story out today with gaps in the way that feds test beef for potentially dangerous chemicals and drugs. Antibiotics, Peter, when I'm buying meat at the store, I look at it, and it doesn't say, oh by the way, this has this antibiotic or copper or arsenic in it. What the heck are we supposed to do? Just take our chances?

EISLER: Well, you know, you talk to some of the consumer groups, there are some things that they recommend. Certainly there's no guarantee, there's no one hundred percent prevention of any of this stuff. But if organic beef is going to be less likely to contain pesticides, less likely to contain antibiotics, for those who have the ability to buy their meat from local -- from local producers where they can actually go and talk to the people who are raising this meat and see where it's done, obviously that's a good way to do it.

Another thing -- if people are concerned about the antibiotics issue, there is legislation right now pending in Congress. It's got more than 100 co-sponsors that would severely restrict beef producers' ability to put antibiotics in the feed of their cattle, except under certain conditions, where the cattle are actually sick as opposed to sort of preventive antibiotics.

GRIFFIN: We just got one question left, and that is, you know, these reports come out, the OIG's report comes out, and it gets shelved, right? Is there any evidence that the agencies targeted in this report are actually going to step up and do the job they're supposed to do?

EISLER: You know, the USDA concurred with all of the reports' findings, and they've put together what they call an action plan that they're going to put into place, and they're working with the EPA and the Food and Drug Administration, to come up with better coordinated standards and to expand the testing and to try to address some of the specific shortcomings in the program that the inspector general pointed out. So, I think there is at least a commitment to do something about it.

GRIFFIN: And you're committed to stay on them, right?

EISLER: Will do.

GRIFFIN: All right, Peter Eisler, "USA Today." Great report, by the way.

Don't let their cute faces fool you. Not Peter's. These guys. These recruits could one day be part of an elite team trained to sniff out terror in crowded places. But they aren't headed to a war zone, they're hunting explosives, maybe where you live.

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(MUSIC PLAYING)

GRIFFIN: Man. All right. They're cute, they're cuddly and they're the next generation in explosive detection, yes. Some of these puppies will grow up to be Vapor Wave dogs, using big, wet noses to hunt down potential dangers in crowded places. Here's homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) there.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A dog's nose samples the air many times a second. This dog sniffs it for explosives.

Zita is what's called a Vapor Wake dog, trained to pick up the scent of explosives in the air despite crowds, cross currents and other smells in Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. Her nose can ferret out TATP, TNT and other explosives in a huge space, even though a person carrying them may have passed by as much as 15 minutes earlier.

The head of Amtrak's K-9 Program compares these animals to a top athlete.

CAPTAIN WILLIAM PARKER, AMTRAK POLICE K-9 PROGRAM: Michael Jordan, and the reason why I say that is because Michael Jordan is one of the best basketball players of all time, and these Wapor Wake dogs, I put in that same category.

MESERVE: Only 1 or 2 percent of puppies from Auburn University's breeding program have what it takes to be a Vapor Wake dog.

JEANNE BROCK, MANAGER, AUBURN UNIVERSITY PUPPY PROGRAM: They'll hunt and hunt and hunt and wouldn't come back without it.

MESERVE: They are introduced at an early age to slippery surfaces and a variety of environments before being sent to prisons in Georgia, Florida, and Mississippi where inmates begin training the dogs to use their noses.

Back at the Auburn facility, older dogs are conditioned on a souped up golf cart to handle the rigors of their future jobs. They recognize about a dozen explosives and could be trained to find additional ones in just a day or two.

I take a backpack containing explosives into a building to test a dog. I walk, sit, and walk some more.

MESERVE (on camera): So now I'm going to hide this backpack full of smokeless powder, right here.

MESERVE (voice-over): A minute later, rangers, still in the early stages of training, tracks the explosive scent right to the source.

DR. ROB GILLETTE, AUBURN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF VETERINARY MEDICINE: There are certain chefs who'll smell a pot of stew and that's say, oh, that's oregano, or that's this type of spice. The dog walks into it, smells this whole thing and says, oh, that's C4.

MESERVE: The U.S. Capitol Police are just starting to use Vapor Wake dogs. They've already augmented security at sporting events and other large gatherings. But Amtrak has embraced them despite the $20,000 price tag per dog.

The rail carrier believes that in a high risk, ever changing transit environment, the dogs have advantages over machines, even though they can only work for about 90 minutes at a stretch.

JOHN PEARCE, AUBURN UNIVERSITY CANINE DETECTION INSTITUTE: There's nothing like a dog as far as mobility, as far as how quickly it can detect explosives and take us to the source of it, and the cost is basically less than any type of technology out there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Man, you ever been to Union Station? How do you, like, just walk around that station and sniff?

Jeanne Meserve tells us that even fans of this program don't think it's the be-all, end-all in bomb detection, but they do say we're just scratching the surface of what animals can do to keep us safe. So, that got us sniffing around looking at other service careers for animals and here's a few of our favorites.

Gambian giant pouched rats smelling out landmines, it's important work. UNICEF estimates there are about 100 million landmines buried around the globe, and probably that many rats. And these guys are a cheap, effective way to find them.

Speaking of powerful noses, doctors say some dogs can actually smell cancer. They can sniff skin, breathe for urine for indicators. British researchers say their dogs had a 41 percent success rate in picking out cancer samples.

Here is a seeing-eye horse used as a service animal. It's a growing trend, although most users tent to go with miniature horses. The plus side, they have a longer life span than a seeing-eye dog, but they're reportedly harder to house train. I imagine so.

We're not staying confined to land. The Navy, of course, putting dolphins and other sea mammals on active duty. They are trained to use eco-location to search for underwater mines and unauthorized divers.

And last on our list, the helper monkey, and a video of a capuchin monkey going through college where they learn to help people who have lost significant use of their limbs. They can flip a light switch, open a fridge, or even scratch a hard-to-reach itch.

Amazing animals. Can't even get my dog to shake hands.

Sorry, Teo (ph).