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Residents Take Matters Into Their Own Hands in Protecting Gulf Beaches From Oil Spill; Deepwater Drilling Moratorium Impacting Gulf Businesses; Financial Planner Gives Advice

Aired June 19, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Annoying fees everywhere you look from the airport to the ATM. We're going to be joined by a financial expert who will tell you how to fight back.

And at 3:00 Eastern time, slip sliding away. Would you dare to get in this fast lane? It's part of our viral videos coming up.

And then at 4:00, good health is a Father's Day present that you simply can't put a price on, critical information that every man needs to know.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM where the news unfolds live this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

BP's CEO, he's taking a little time off after these congressional hearings in the nation's capital. But perhaps the picture might not look so good. Today Tony Hayward is at a yacht race off the coast of England. The Associated Press is quoting BP, which calls it a rare moment of private time and the company insists that Hayward remains in touch with what's happening in the Gulf of Mexico.

And one of BP's drilling partners accuses the company of reckless behavior. Andarko Petroleum says the rig explosion was preventable. The oil spill is still spewing there under a sea with tar balls now washing up on Panama City beach, Florida.

Even before tar balls came ashore on another Florida beach, officials there were taking matters into their own hands. CNN's David Mattingly is at Okaloosa island, Florida.

DAVID MATTINGLY, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fredricka, it's a beautiful day to be here at the beach. People are out enjoying the sand and the water as much as they can right now. And county officials here on Okaloosa island want to keep it that way.

They say they grew increasingly frustrated when they had an elaborate plan to protect the sound here from the encroaching oil. They were worried that they weren't going to get any permission from the federal government in the form of permits.

It got so bad that they actually said, look, we're going to do this with or without your permission, and risk breaking the law. I talked to some of those commissioners who told me they were prepared to go to jail if it came to it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DINO VILLANI, DIR. DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY: I think there's a fundamental flaw in the federal response. I mean, you know, to some degree, it's there and it has usefulness on a higher level. But when you're done in the trenches trying to respond like we are, it doesn't work.

MATTINGLY (on camera): This no-wait strategy you're talking about almost got you in trouble with the feds, didn't it?

WAYNE HARRIS, COMMISSIONER, OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA: Very much so.

MATTINGLY: Were you prepared to go to jail?

HARRIS: He wasn't and I didn't want him to and neither did any of the commissioners.

MATTINGLY: But you talked about it?

HARRIS: Sure, we talked about it. The coast guard had told us, commissioners, if you do that, there is the potential for you to go to jail. We said, so be it, but we have to protect our waterways and our people.

MATTINGLY: You know what you've done, don't you? You've gone out and set an example for every city on the panhandle.

HARRIS: That's what you're paid for or that's what your responsibilities are when you are the leader of a particular county or city or whatever the agency is.

MATTINGLY: So the lesson we learn from this, don't wait on the federal response?

HARRIS: You can't. It wasn't that we were giving them an ultimatum. In fact, we were. But the bottom line was this. If they were not going to act, we were going to act, whether we had their permission or not.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MATTINGLY: Fortunately, an agreement was reached at the 11th hour, and none too soon, because this is what started coming ashore, these tar balls I picked up off the beach of Okaloosa Island yesterday.

These have since been cleaned up and the beach is open and people are back in the water today, but it's a sign of just how serious it's getting out here in the panhandle and how quickly some of these local governments need to have some action -- Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much David Mattingly.

President Obama's push for a six-month ban on deep water drilling appears headed for a court fight. A group of oil drilling companies is suing to have the moratorium lifted, arguing it would hurt the Gulf area's economy.

A hearing on a preliminary injunction against the ban is set for Monday. Charlotte Randolph is the president of Lafourche Parish in Louisiana, and she was on "AC 360" last night. She says companies are already planning to move, and workers are being laid off because of the drilling ban.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How has it affected your parish already? I understand companies are moving their businesses and people are being laid off?

CHARLOTTE RANDOLPH, PRESIDENT LAFOURCHE PARISH, LOUISIANA: That's correct. Some of the rigs have used the Force Mejour clause in their contract and they're shopping elsewhere in the world. It's passed near a helicopter facility just this afternoon, and it's normally full of vehicles from all states and most of the states in the union. And it was virtually empty today. So already this moratorium has impacted us economically.

It's a very, very grave concern for us. And it's difficult for America to understand that while we're fighting the oil that is approaching our shores and disturbing our wetlands, we're asking that this industry be allowed to continue. It is something we've attempted to educate America now for the past 20 years, and right now is the only attention we're getting because the oil is coming up to the shore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Randolph actually accompanied President Obama when he visited a tar balled beach last month. She said that she asked the president to reconsider the drilling ban because it would devastate the area. Randolph says the president told her "a timeout was necessary."

All right you've seen the devastation from the oil disaster. Now CNN is giving you a chance to help. Join us Monday night for an all- star relief effort to help rebuild the gulf coast. The special two- hour "LARRY KING LIVE" event begins at 8:00 eastern time Monday night right here on CNN.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, this is pretty scary stuff, too, the search for a rogue grizzly bear near Yellowstone National Park. Apparently that search is now over. The bear was shot and killed a short time ago in Shoshone National forest after authorities tracked it down by its radio collar.

The grizzly is apparently responsible for the mauling death of a researcher who was part of the team that put the collar on the animal before releasing it. And whether you're paying 20 bucks to put your luggage on the plane or hundreds of dollars for breaking a cell phone contract, there's a fee for just about everything out there these days. And if you're sick much it, well we've got some tips on fighting back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: We've been talking about some pretty crazy weather taking place in the Midwest, and that is kind of juxtaposed with the hot, sweltering stuff that we're seeing along the Gulf coast. And that certainly is bringing some very difficult times for people who are part of the cleanup development there.

Our Bonnie Schneider in the Gulf, as well as those who are trying to enjoy what beaches they can, that have been untouched by this oil spill.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm glad you mention that, Fredricka, because right now most of the beaches, including Louisiana, Obama, Mississippi and even parts of Florida are under heat advisories, where temperatures will soar at least it will feel like it's in the triple digits.

Now the one thing to note is there are scattered thunderstorms. These are isolated but they're popping up pretty fast. They include frequent lightning strikes. Actually this unfortunately does cause some problems with the people that are in the Gulf because, suddenly you have thunderstorms pop up and you have to take cover.

They're isolated, and we're monitoring it here. We'll have a lot more coming up on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, Wall Street is looking to continue its winning streak on Monday. The DOW added 16 points yesterday to close at 10,450. Friday's gains capped the DOW's best two weeks since November.

The Midas touch, perhaps, soaring gold prices lifted shares of minerals companies. But the coming week could be volatile with housing and jobs reports due out as well.

How about those annoying fees? Everyone can identify with that. They just seem to be tacked onto everything these days from putting luggage on a plane to managing money in your retirement plan.

We've got some ways to fight back now. Joining us now, our financial planner Karen Lee. Karen, let's start with banking fees. We can't get away from them no matter what. Overdraft charges, ATM fees, checking account minimums. How do you fight back, if you can?

KAREN LEE, FINANCIAL ADVISER: Well, you're going to hear about this through this whole talk we're going to have today, which is personal responsibility for your finances and your bills. Do you know that last year Americans paid $37 billion just in overdraft fees for banks?

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

LEE: We're making them very wealthy. Yet we live in a country where we're checking our e-mail one, two, ten times a day.

WHITFIELD: An hour.

LEE: I think we should be checking our account balances, as well.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

LEE: So one of the things that's new is that we've been able to set up overdraft protection, if you have money in savings, the bank will transfer money for us to the checking account, they're now starting to charge us for that.

So we have to take responsibility, go online, and make those changes ourselves, transfer the money. What you want to do, though, is scrutinize your statement.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEE: Check for whatever fees you've got. Call the bank and ask what they are. Ask if there's a workaround. Sometimes you've got an old account you've had for 20 years with one institution and just by upgrading your account you can get rid of that.

Some banks are willing to send you e-mails to trigger that you're about to hit a minimum balance. So there's lots of things you can do.

And last but not least you might want to look for a community bank or an online bank where you don't have all these penalties and fees.

WHITFIELD: And credit cards, a lot of fees involved with that. Whether it's being late, or perhaps even there are charges if you don't use it enough?

LEE: This is a new one. New one I've heard of -- being charged if you don't charge enough. Let's talk about the late fee first. I heard a great tip, which was to set up an automatic payment for that minimum payment on every account you have.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes.

LEE: That's a great idea.

WHITFIELD: If you've got good bill paying history and you do miss a bill, we've all done it, call the company. I find they always are willing to reverse that charge to you.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

LEE: And then the other thought is, what about consolidating your credit card use as to one primary card? I mean we have cards for the gas station, cards for ...

WHITFIELD: They're all getting interest rates.

LEE: They all have late fees. So if we keep our purchases to one card, with only one bill to track, and hopefully a little more manageable. And, always feel free to go looking for a new credit card company.

WHITFIELD: That's true. You can let them know that, too, and they'll make some changes for you.

When it comes to your investments, sometimes, you know, there are fees from switching brokers, et cetera, changing your mind on things. How do you avoid?

LEE: Well, I think the most annoying one would be that you go direct to one company, you open a fund that has a minimum of $2,000. You deposit that in there. The market pulls back, and all of a sudden your account is only worth $1,800, and you get charged a fee on top of it for dropping below your minimum.

WHITFIELD: You're losing twice.

LEE: Right. Call the fund company, ask if there's a workaround. Typically the companies are set up to maybe waive fees if you have a periodic investment plan, even only $50 a month. One company will not charge a fee if you get an e-statement. People like the paper statement. But remember you can always go online and print that statement off yourself as opposed to having them send it to you.

WHITFIELD: There's so much you can do.

LEE: Let's talk if you're working with an adviser. If you're going to switch from one broker to another you're not going to get out of those fees. But go with a new broker, and they want your business, maybe there's something that they can do for you that will help offset those fees.

And the second thing about fees on investments, there are a lot of hidden fees. From an index fund that has some half percent fee maybe to a managed active fund might have one percent to 1.4 percent with things like annuities going up to three percent.

Sit down with your adviser and ask them to explain all the hidden fees and say what else am I getting for that?

WHITFIELD: Maybe there's some negotiation. Some wiggle room.

LEE: Even if there isn't you could decide if it's something worth paying for or not.

WHITFIELD: When you fly airlines are not willing to negotiate.

LEE: No, they're not.

WHITFIELD: You can try and say I've got to check this and I still have to pay $20, et cetera.

LEE: Right.

WHITFIELD: What kind of leverage do we have, really, when it comes to avoiding fees like that?

LEE: We have very little. If you fly a lot you get that status and they typically waive those fees. I don't fly much. I went on a trip last week, and I hate having to drag my bags through the airport, but I called my girlfriends in advance and said can you cover me on my liquids, the hair products and everything? They said yes, and I checked my bag, I saved $100 round trip, $25 per bag, each way. So be willing to carryon.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to have some questions, of course, from a lot of people that you've been sending these questions via Facebook, blog, all of that. We're going to pose those questions, and you're going to get free advice from Karen Lee right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, finally Chicago is drying out and cleaning up after powerful storms, heavy rain and gusty winds toppled trees and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of customers across Illinois, Michigan, as well as Wisconsin. Minnesota is cleaning up after deadly tornadoes taking place there on Thursday.

The Obama administration plans to sue Arizona over the immigration law Governor Jan Brewer signed just this past April. A Justice Department source has confirmed that plans for the suit are under way, first mentioned, by the way, by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a television interview in Ecuador.

And Governor Brewer says the people of Arizona should have been told about the suit first before citizens of another country.

And there will be a familiar presence in Afghanistan, and not everyone's happy about it. An affiliate of the former Blackwater security company has won a $120 million contract to protect U.S. consulates and diplomats.

Blackwater contractors were involved in a deadly shooting in Iraq back in 2007. Critics say it should not get any more government contracts at all.

OK so we're back now with some free financial advice with financial planner Karen Lee. And we've got lots of questions coming our way via Facebook, blog, et cetera. Thanks so much for sending those comments and questions to us.

Let's start with this one, shall we, Karen, from J.W. "What can I do about a bank convenience fee for my bank statement? It comes once a month."

LEE: We were just talking about this very thing. That's probably a fee now for sending you a paper statement. Your solution is to go paperless. A lot of people don't want to give up on that statement. But remember you can get that statement online if you want. So go paperless.

WHITFIELD: Perfect. Christina asks this. "A couple of my friends are in to major debt and they've been paying their debt for two years but they're getting nowhere. What would their best option be? It's all credit card debt, by the way."

LEE: I'm going to encourage them to go to one of the national consumer credit card services. They consolidate your debt, they'll negotiate with your credit card companies. The national credit council is one of them.

You got to stop paying on those cards -- I mean you've got to stop purchasing on the cards, obviously. But I'd say that's your best bet is consolidate, stop all purchases, let another company work between you and the credit card company.

WHITFIELD: And you always have to do more than the minimum.

LEE: Of course! Set you up with a plan so you know when the payoff date will be.

WHITFIELD: And this one, "Adding a new credit card account in this time, what kind of effect do you think it will have?"

LEE: Well, it's always going to come back to how well are you handling the card? Are you paying your balance, in full, every month and on time? It's going to help your credit score.

So it's only when you start missing those payments, or making real minimal payments that you're going to have trouble. I think it's a fine time to open up a new account.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. Karen Lee, always good to see you.

LEE: You, too.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much to you at home for sending lots of great questions. Hopefully you're smarter about your money and those fees that you can't seem to avoid these days. They're everywhere. That's right. Karen Lee, thanks so much.

LEE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, a bad call is leaving a bad taste in the American team's mouth. We're talking World Cup now. We're going live to South Africa for more on the winning goal that didn't win.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking in on the World Cup now in South Africa. Denmark and Cameroon are kicking off right now.

Security has been tight around the stadiums, but apparently not tight enough inside one of the stadiums. It seems an England fan made it into the team's locker room after their game yesterday. They actually tied to Algeria 0-0. The intruder got in just after Prince William and Prince Harry left.

Several reports say the fan yelled something at injured England star David Beckham, and he was escorted out -- the fan, that is, not Beckham.

Meantime, a great comeback by the U.S. team ended in a controversial tie. The ref called a foul just as the U.S. was scoring what would have been the winning goal. CNN's Pedro Pinto is live in Johannesburg, South Africa. So, can the U.S. team appeal this? Or do you just simply move on?

PEDRO PINTO, CNN INTERNATIONAL SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: You have to move on, Fredricka, and that is what Coach Bradley is trying to do. However, it had one last word to say about that goal today in a press conference that was held here in South Africa earlier on Saturday.

And he said it was a good goal. If anything should have been called, it should have been a foul our way. The last thing that should have happened was the referee disallowing that goal, or calling back that goal, because of an alleged foul by one of our players.

So, Bo Bradley had one last thing to say about that. He's trying to move on. The United States needs to win their final game against Algeria to make it into the round of 16, the knockout stages.

But it's so disheartening, isn't it, Fredricka? You understand the frustration coming, especially from the players, because they had fought so hard to get back on level terms after being down 2-0. But to have a goal taken away from you like that for something they didn't understand is exasperating.

WHITFIELD: Yes, that's hugely disappointing. Now what about for the ref? It must be horrible being him right now?

PINTO: Well, what happens is normally the performances of every referee, the performances are judged by the organizing body and world soccer's governing body, which is FIFA. They have a look at the decisions referees got right, the decisions referees got wrong.

And if they can't find a reason for the referee, which is from Mali, by the way, in Africa, they can't find a reason for that referee to have called that foul, they might penalize him by not selecting him to another game.

There are 24 teams of referees here, and there's 64 games. What they do is they rotate referees between games and they pick the best ones and the ones who performed the best during the first phase for the last stages of the competition. So I get a feeling this guy's not going to be out there anymore during this competition.

WHITFIELD: Oh, bummer for him. All right, meantime let's talk about the French team and why one of their stars has been booted out.

(LAUGHTER)

PINTO: Yes, you don't get to see this every day, or at every World Cup, really. It hasn't happened in 16 years. One of the players on the French national team was kicked off and was sent home after insulting the manager at halftime of their last game.

I'm talking about Nicolas Anelka. And for the soccer fans out there who follow European football, you will recognize his name. He's played for arsenal, Real Madrid, for Chelsea right now. So he's a big name in the world of soccer.

And he insulted the manager after receiving some tactical advice. He didn't appreciate it very much. I won't tell you what he said because I probably would be kicked off CNN right now.

WHITFIELD: We don't want that to happen.

PINTO: But it wasn't nice. It was an expletive-filled tirade, and he's paid the price. He refused to apologize, so he's packing his bags and he's heading back home early.

WHITFIELD: Yes, well he'll have a little time to think about it and maybe the apology will come later. All right, Pedro Pinto, thanks so much in Johannesburg. Appreciate that.

All right, well, you've never seen anything like this before. Wait and see what the world is actually buzzing about online as it pertains to the World Cup. Perhaps you've already dibbled and dabbled into it. We know our Josh Levs has. Tell us all about it, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's really cool. It's a visualization of what people all over the world are buzzing about at any given moment using twitter. There's millions of tweets going on. Whatever is the biggest picture here is what the most people are chattering about.

So usually it's going to be one of the teams that's getting a lot of chatter. So right now you've got people talking about Cameroon, and when you click on it, it shows you the latest tweet that anyone in the world is writing about this.

And you can click on players, see which players are getting the most buzz at any given moment. You can watch how it changes. Look who you were just talking about over here, I believe, with Pedro Pinto, Nicolas Anelka. So you can see right here the latest things that people are tweeting about him, and it continues to change.

And you can impact it. If you're on twitter all you need to do is go to CNN.com/twitterbuzz. Whatever you're tweeting about will show up right here. It changes. Shows you what's going on over the last 24 hours. The director who organized that talked to me earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Here we're looking hour by hour what people are talking about. You can see as goals are scored people's pictures get really, really big. You've got the Mexican team trending here.

And then as throughout the day you can see how the conversation changes. If someone does something fantastic, if someone does something less than fantastic it's going to show up here in real-time, essentially, on the screen, through this twitter visualization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: So all that at CNN.com/twitterbuzz, just a little piece of what we have going. You can see more at CNN.com/WorldCup, which is just filled with our coverage. Fred, I cannot believe how many inter- actives we have going at once. But the world is watching and so are we. So why wouldn't we?

WHITFIELD: Yes, there's an insatiable appetite. It is the world sport. The World Cup is huge.

LEVS: Huge.

WHITFIELD: All right, Josh, thank you.

All right, there are new worries out there about sunscreen as you hit the poolside. A chemical actually found in many of those sunscreens could be hurting you. Dr. Gupta has some advice before you lather up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Obama and Republicans are verbally sparring over the Gulf oil disaster. In his weekly address the president criticized GOP leaders for stalling a bill to lift the liability cap on damages.

And Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker is finding fault with the president's response to the leak, calling it too slow. He also says the moratorium on deepwater drilling could do more harm than good.

And when it comes to texting and driving, teens are not the worst offenders, after all. According to Pew researchers, 47 percent of adults admit either reading or sending text messages while driving compared to just 34 percent of teens. And more men do it than women -- 51 percent compared to 42 percent. The news comes as more Americans than ever are using cell phones.

And a glamorous royal wedding today in Sweden, as the crown princess married Daniel Westling at Stockholm Cathedral. Westling was Princess Victoria's personal trainer, but the marriage elevates him to the rank of duke. Westling has spent much of the past year preparing for his new role as a member of the royal family.

And women looking for pills to help perk up their libidos will have to wait awhile. An advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration says that a new drug is not effective at boosting women's sexual desire. Makers have described the pill as the female Viagra, but the FDA panel says its side effects, which include nausea and depression, far outweigh the benefits. And in California, they're dealing with an outbreak of whooping cough. At least five people have died, including two babies over the past few months.

Health officials say right now that they're seeing three times the number of cases that's normal for this time of year. Whooping cough, otherwise known as pertussis, is usually prevented by multiple doses of vaccine. But the vaccine doesn't provide lifetime immunity.

Let's talk about your sunscreen now. It may not be protecting you the way you think. A consumer advocacy group investigated about 500 sunscreens, and their study found that many make false claims and possibly contain dangerous ingredients.

Earlier this week I spoke with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta, chief medical correspondent.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: We're not sure that a lot of these things are dangerous. But we're not positive they're safe, either. That's the real concern. You could say that about a lot of potential products out there.

But the Environmental Working Group has done a few studies on this, trying to point out a couple of important things. First of all they looked at 500 different sunscreens, and after all was said and done they came out with 39 on their approved list. You have to go to their website to find that out.

Two things, really. One is they say certainly toxins, certain potential toxic elements could be in some of these sunscreens, and they might pose problems. For example, something known as oxy-benzene is in about 60 percent of sunscreen. It absorbs some harmful rays. They say in certain mice it could potentially cause cancer.

This is animal studies. Whether that translates to humans is always a big question.

Another substance, retinol-palmitate. It's in about 40 percent of sunscreens. But again, it allowed tumors to grow faster in certain animals.

WHITFIELD: Here we're putting on sunscreen to cut down on the chances of skin cancer.

GUPTA: That's right.

WHITFIELD: And now we're talking about other types of cancers that we could conceivably be exposed to.

GUPTA: Right. And most dermatologists will say, look, right now with all that we know, it's still better to wear sunscreen to try and prevent some of these skin cancers for now and for later on in life, because some of these come up many years later. But there may be some guidance necessary on what are the best sunscreens. And that's the real problem here. For 30 years now since the FDA has really looked at some of the sunscreen industry and tried to figure out what some of these elements are.

We also talked with the personal care products council overseas in this industry and lots of others. They say this EWG, this Environmental Working Group report, are simply unscientific. They say these are FDA approved elements. And they're right. It's 30 years ago. It's been a long time.

WHITFIELD: So when I see a label that says SPF 100, 50, 30, all of these numbers, do those numbers have any bearing on some of these ingredients. Do I need to pay closer attention?

GUPTA: The best way to think about those numbers, you're probably getting diminishing returns as you get higher. People have SPF of 100 even nowadays, it probably isn't providing you much extra. If you take a look at the numbers specifically in terms of what it does, you might get a percent or two more of blockage.

But when you look, think about sun protection factor, SPF, so if you have 15, what that means, Fred, is that it takes 15 times as long to cause a sunburn versus not wearing any sunscreen at all. But you know, between 30 and 50, you're only getting a percent there.

And they're focused on UVB rays. We've talked about this before, the UVA and UVB. Most sunscreens just do UVB. UVA can be problematic as well. So find a broad spectrum sunscreen that covers both.

WHITFIELD: And maybe when we lean towards the 50 or the 30 we're thinking we don't have to apply it as much. Maybe it's smarter to stick with the 15 because you've got to reapply?

GUPTA: Your absolutely right. People think I've got 100. Good, Dr. Fred, I like that.

(LAUGHTER)

GUPTA: If you put SPF of 100, people figure I can just put a little bit on. You've got to put the same amount on, it's just going to give you more protection over the time.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

GUPTA: Also, creams versus sprays. Go for the creams. Spray you don't get enough on.

WHITFIELD: It seems so easy, too.

GUPTA: That's right.

WHITFIELD: But it's not that easy. You've got to work for it.

Thanks so much, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, always good to see you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And if you'd like to find out more about your sunscreen brand and whether it's effective, go to ewg.org.

All right, a so-called big foot sights and an emergency call to 911, the rest of the story straight ahead.

But first, you gym enthusiasts out there can finally get a light aerobic workout while at work. But you have to stand up to do it. It's a new invention called the track desk, and it combines a desk with a piece of gym equipment.

Gary Tuchman has this "Edge of Discovery" report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: David Lee walks 25 miles a week without even leaving his office.

DAVID LEE, TREK DESK USER: It's quite comfortable just to walk all day long.

TUCHMAN: Lee owns a trek desk, a height adjustable work station designed to fit over a treadmill. It allows users to type, talk, and think on their feet.

LEE: And when people come up and see it, initially their reaction is, walk all day? Stand? Won't that hurt my feet? Won't I sweat? You walk at very slow speeds. It's just like walking down the hall, and you don't sweat when you walk down the hall, you won't sweat when you walk on a trek desk.

TUCHMAN: The trek desk costs about $500. But Dr. Elizabeth Joy believes the health benefits could be priceless.

DAVID BORDLEY, CEO, TREK DESK: When you're walking you're burning about twice as many calories as you are sitting. Walking while you work should help people lose weight.

TUCHMAN: Gary Tuchman, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK, a lot of animal crazy stuff in our water cooler this hour. He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day, at least those are the words to live by one particular bull fighter in Mexico.

Check it out right now. Here's a video of the matador taking off in the other direction, across the ring, and headfirst right there, over the wall. That doesn't play so good in Mexico there. They're not happy. The terrified matador was actually arrested and fined because he didn't take on that bull. Of course now he's retired. So not exactly an unbearable problem from Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Take a look. But a black bear cub seemingly unfazed by civilization there was a cause for concern for some. But the bear wasn't about to go away quietly so for two hours Wednesday, Greensburg police, state troopers, wildlife officers, all of them gave chase to try to corral this little guy. It was eventually caught.

And what's ten feet tall with beautiful hair? Last week's reported big foot from Cleveland County, North Carolina, of course. Here's the 911 call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PEELER, ALLEGES BIGFOOT SIGHTING: I don't know what it was. He's walking upright like a man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, what did it look like?

PEELER: It looked like a giant ape with a man's face. I did not shoot ...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.

PEELER: ... the thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's just a thing. Who knows? That was Tim Peeler who claims to have shooed the thing off his property last week as it was allegedly going after his dog. Some believe that Peeler may have been drinking at the time, maybe, they say. But some local deputies have heard this before, a sighting of a thing, and they have reported seeing things back into the 1970s. And some people seem to think that those things just might be big foot. I don't know.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, well, if you're thinking about boycotting BP, you may want to think again. Your efforts may be misguided or may be even in vain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, take a look. You're about to see pictures of a protest by the activist group Code Pink. This was just a few hours ago outside a BP gas station in Washington. It's part of a nationwide call to boycott the company.

But the woman in pink is cofounder Diane Wilson. And you might remember her. She's the same woman who this month disrupted congressional hearings about the BP disaster right there. That was this past week when the CEO of BP Tony Hayward was about to testify.

But BP gas station owners say boycotts actually hurt them, not the massive oil giant. Plus, they say the gas that you buy at BP or any other station probably was drilled and refined by another company. CNN's Josh Levs joins us now with the breakdown on all of this at the pump.

LEVS: Yes, Fred, a few facts that are helpful as people consider this kind of thing. I will tell you that there's a really good article about this brought to them in the "Chicago Tribune." I'll show you where you can see that.

But a few basics that you should know. BP, this is a line from an article together. Boycotting of BP gas stations does not hurt BP's coffers much, at least directly.

I want you all to understand how this works. BP does not own BP stations. In general you find out a lot of the major oil companies. A few years ago they gave up on that in general. These are independently owned.

What you have, they are franchises and they do pay. And they're locked into generally long-term contracts with these oil companies to be offering that. But it would cost them a lot of money to get out of it, so it certainly would impact them, there's no question about that.

There's another one from "The Trib." They say because oil is a globally traded commodity there's no easy way to confirm what company is responsible for the gas you buy. So you go to another gas station, you're still getting oil that came from a BP well somewhere.

And one more thing, there are people out there who understand exactly how it works who still feel there are good reasons for them to boycott. They have a quote, again from this article, "The target here is the image of the company." This is Tyson Slocum saying that in the article. He's the director of Public Citizens.

So, there certainly is this continuing debate about whether it is good or bad, productive or not to target BP in this way. But it's just helpful to understand the basics of how this operates. And there is no question that these local operators, the people who locally own these individual stations could be hurt by that, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, Josh, thanks so much for that information. I know a lot of the franchise owners really want that message out.

LEVS: That's right.