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Test Results Show Gel Reduces HIV Infection in Women; Senate to Vote on Extending Unemployment Benefits; Blimp, Boats Skim Oil from Gulf

Aired July 20, 2010 - 13:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, it was a big story and you helped advance that story a little bit, so at least we have some more information. Thank you for that, Tony, to you and your team.

I'm Ali Velshi. I'm going to be with you for the next two hours today and every week day, taking every important topic that we cover a step further, kind of like Tony did a couple of hours ago. I'm going to try and give you a level of detail that will help you make important decisions about where you live, where you travel, how you spend your money, what you put out there on the Internet and what you think about this story that we've been following.

Let's get started. Here's what's on "The Rundown." This is a very interesting thing: a new weapon in the fight against AIDS, a gel that could cut women's risk of infection by half.

A new senator arriving in D.C. in the next hour or two could help Democrats end a Republican filibuster and pass a bill to keep those unemployment checks flowing to people who are about to get cut off.

And saving sea turtles from the oil in the Gulf of Mexico. We're going to take you inside a turtle rehab center where these amazing creatures are getting a second chance.

But first, let's talk to you about this HIV story, a remarkable development. There's a conference going on in Vienna, Austria. It's the International AIDS Conference. It's -- it's a very big conference, and a study has been unveiled showing that there's a new HIV gel for women that has remarkable effectiveness.

Now, let me tell you a little bit about this. This has the potential to save millions of women's lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS. It's a study that was conducted in Africa done by the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa, called CAPRISA.

It followed -- this is an interesting study. It followed 900 HIV negative women who were sexually active between the ages of 18 and 40. And what it found is, if used consistently, this drug can reduce the infection rate by 54 percent.

Now, you might be wondering, there are other things you can do that can reduce your risk of infection by a lot more. I'm going to talk to you about this. The issue is using this consistently. Now remember, this is going to be used by women who are doing what they can do to reduce the spread of infection. Not men who could choose to wear condoms.

In this case, the gel has to be applied up to 12 hours before sexual intercourse, and within 12 hours after it. So there are some requirements here. And that is part of the challenge of applying it consistently.

Now, the gel contains something called an antiretroviral microbicide. We'll talk to somebody who knows a lot more about this. Antiretroviral microbicide. HIV is a retrovirus, so it's an antiretroviral microbicide, something that kills the microbes.

Until now, we weren't sure that these were going to work, particularly in women. But it stops the HIV virus from -- from attacking the system. It is the first completed study on one of these things, and the study indicates that it may also reduce the risk of the spread of genital herpes.

Now, why do you care about this? It was done in Africa. This is -- the risk of AIDS infection is very, very high in Africa. There are 33 million people worldwide who are HIV positive. Sixteen million of them are -- 16 million of those 33 million people are women. So about half of the population infected with AIDS are women. And there are 2.7 million new infections every year.

I want to invite Dr. Anthony Fauci to join us now. He's the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, a friend of our show. He's joining us from Vienna where the International AIDS Conference is going on right now.

Dr. Fauci, thank you for being with us. Again, tell us why this is -- why the community where you are thinks this is such a big deal.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: Well, it's important, because it really is a very significant advance in giving women the ability to be empowered to protect themselves against HIV infection by using something that's completely within their power.

As you mentioned correctly, Ali, it's a vaginal gel that's inserted before and then after intercourse that contains an antiretroviral drug that has shown in this very good study that it significantly blocks the acquisition of infection to women.

The reason why it's important is that, certainly in southern Africa and in many cultures throughout the world, women are really not empowered to protect themselves. They can't negotiate the use of a condom with a partner or, if they use a female condom and the partner doesn't like it, they can wind up getting thrown out or really being the object of violence.

So to put something in the hands of women, particularly in the developing world, this is really very important. And the results were really, as you stated correctly, quite striking. It isn't the end of the game. We need to do better than that, and there are other studies that are trying to improve upon this. But this is the first microbicide -- that's what we refer to it as, a topical microbicide, that has actually worked in women. And we have been trying for years to get to be successful. This is the first successful trial we've had.

VELSHI: Successful trial, phase two. There has to be a phase three now, the next part of this trial. And what does that mean, and when does it mean that, if this works, this could actually be available?

FAUCI: Well, first of all, there is another trial that's also ongoing that has been started some time ago. The results won't be available for a couple of years, a trial that's comparing not only this gel, but also comparing it with an oral preventative.

If it you want to get wide acceptance and regulatory authority approval, you've got to repeat a trial so you don't just have one shot at it.

This trial was very solid. The numbers or the power of the trial was not enough, for example, to make a blanket approval of it for use universally. But the data that will be accumulated with subsequent trials, I'm certain, are going to build on this, so that we'll have enough data so that it will be available. But it's not available now. That's why we refer to it still as a trial.

VELSHI: Sure.

FAUCI: And not yet a product that's ready for distribution.

VELSHI: Yesterday, I talked to a gentleman who was working on a patch that has little needles in it for the flu vaccine for people who don't like needles or things like that. But the issue, of course, is that if these things work, there might be larger, broader implications for this form of application.

So what we find interesting about this gel is that it's a new way to apply a microbicide. Can it have other effects? Can it have other benefits?

FAUCI: Well, the benefit that you mention, not only does it block against HIV infection, but they found the unexpected result that, when you compare women, that it also had an effect against protecting against genital herpes, which is important, not only because genital herpes is an important infection, but if you simultaneously have genital herpes, and you get exposed to HIV, there's a greater chance that you will get infected with HIV if you also have genital herpes, so this may be a double positive whammy. One, it's very good, as you mentioned and as I just explained, for HIV, but it also has that secondary benefit that it also works against blocking herpes or genital herpes infections.

VELSHI: And, of course, as you underscored, it does help to put the power in the hands of women who might otherwise be infected by men who are not taking the responsibility of not passing on HIV.

Dr. Fauci, always a pleasure to see you. Thank you for being with us from Vienna today.

FAUCI: You're quite welcome.

VELSHI: All right. For almost 3 million out-of-work Americans, this could be a very, very important day. The Senate about to vote on extending unemployment benefits. And today, the yes votes should prevail after three failed attempts. I'll talk with a "no" voter when we come back about why he's opposing extending unemployment benefits.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We're probably less than 90 minutes away from a very important vote on the floor of the United States Senate. This is a vote about whether or not to extend unemployment benefits once again. This has been going on monthly until June, when senators voted not to extend unemployment benefits.

And there are about 3 million people who are depending on those benefits. They're unemployed, and in some cases, very long-term unemployed.

Let me just give you some sense of why we're talking about this. It's a $33 billion measure, so it's no small deal, just to extend federal aid by six months. The average benefit for people receiving unemployment, by the way, is about $309 a week.

Now, let me give you a sense of the states in the U.S. that still have double-digit unemployment. There are a number of states that have -- 39 states and the District of Columbia in the latest report, which has just come out today, actually saw decreases in their unemployment, but there are still ten states that have unemployment rates above 10 percent. You can see them there: California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina. Many of these states have manufacturing facilities. Others have unemployment rates that are higher for other reasons.

Now, take a look at the number of states that have more than 100,000 people who have exhausted all federal and state unemployment benefits. That means they are long-term unemployed, and they cannot -- they cannot get any more benefits. California, Texas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. A lot of overlap between those two states.

Now, why is this vote happening again at 2:30 Eastern today? Well, because the Democrats think they'll have the votes to actually get it passed. And that's because former West Virginia gubernatorial aide Carte Goodwin, he' going to be sworn in as the -- as the temporary senator from West Virginia, following the passing of Senator Robert Byrd.

He is replacing the Senate's oldest member, and he is actually going to be the Senate's youngest member, 36 years old, the first U.S. senator born in the 1970s. We'll bring you that when it happens. He's going to be sworn in around -- about an hour from now. We'll bring you that.

But right now, I want to talk to U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming. He's a Republican, and he's joining me. He's one of those who is likely to cast his vote against the extension of unemployment benefits.

Senator, I want to ask you, I guess there are two reasons that people put forth for voting against this. One of them is fiscal and the other one maybe you can describe as philosophical. What would your reasoning be for voting against -- be for voting against this?

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R), WYOMING: Well, I do want to extend unemployment benefits to folks who are out of work, but I think we ought to pay for it, instead of putting this debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. And there's plenty of money left over in the stimulus package to pay for it.

So I actually co-sponsored an amendment last month that said let's extend the unemployment benefits, but pay for it in a responsible way. That's what we need to do.

I mean, the scroll on the bottom of the screen talks about no jobs. It says jobs, no. The bottom line is, that's the problem with this failed stimulus package. The president said if they passed it, unemployment would stay less than 8 percent in this country. We now know it hit 10 percent, and you showed the map of how many states have over 10 percent unemployment.

He -- the president overpromised, under-delivered, and even though Vice President Biden said that the stimulus package is working, fewer than one in four Americans believe so. The president ought to be focused on jobs, the economy, the debt and the amount of spending. And he's not focused on that at all.

VELSHI: So Senator, your view is that you're OK with extending these benefits. You think they're helpful. You don't want it added to the budget. You'd like it coming out of the money that's left over in stimulus.

There are some, though, either in your caucus or in conservative political circles, who actually have a philosophical argument. I want to just sort of give you one quote from the Cato Institute, and I want you to tell me whether you think this is reflective of people you've talked to.

It says, quote, "A large body of economic evidence suggests that extending unemployment benefits increases unemployment and keeps people out of work longer. This is because workers are less likely to look for work or accept less-than-ideal jobs as long as they are protected from the full consequences of being unemployed."

And Senator, I put that out to some of my viewers who follow me on Twitter and Facebook, and I got a bit of a mixed bag. I had some people saying they think that some people remain on unemployment insurance because it's easier than working. I have to tell you, if the average benefit is $309 a week, I feel like that might not be the case for everybody. What do you think?

BARRASSO: I think there are people looking for jobs, and they can't find them right now in this economy. And a lot of it is the uncertainty that small businesses have as a result of the Obama economic position, which is that of raising taxes, health-care mandates that are going to be increased costs to small businesses, the worry about cap and trade or cap and tax legislation that's going to increase energy costs.

So many small businesses in this country, and they're the engines that drive this economy, they're afraid to hire people right now, because of the uncertainty as a result of the policies coming out of this administration.

So I want to extend unemployment benefits for those who are out of work, because I believe many of those people are looking for work, are trying to find a job, but this economy, and specifically this environment, as a result of this administration, are making it harder for businesses to hire people. And that's where I think the fundamental problem is.

VELSHI: Now, ultimately, you've been able to keep this -- this particular measure from passing, not as part of the stimulus, but as part of the budget. You've been able to do that for -- since June. This is probably going to come to an end today, this measure is going to pass, and unemployment benefits will be extended for the next six months. What next?

BARRASSO: Well, the amount of spending going on in this country and the debt is -- it's unsustainable; it's irresponsible.

I just got back from Wyoming from over the weekend. Small businesses want to hire people. People are very anxious and concerned about -- about the debt. I mean, the very sad facts are that this debt in this country of $13 trillion is an amount that makes me think of what's happened recently in Greece, and that may be a coming attraction of what's going to happen in the United States.

This debt is something that is on the minds of the American people,. I think the president ought to be focused on jobs, the economy, the debt and the spending and focus on that instead of so many different ways he's been distracted in the last year and a half of his presidency.

VELSHI: OK. Jobs and debt. These are going to be major issues as we go into the midterm election. I want you to hold on right there. I want to take a quick break so that, you know, we don't get into debt. And then I'm going to come back to you on the other side, and I want to hear what you think some of the solutions are to jobs and paying down the debt.

U.S. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, standing by for more of an important conversation about the things that matter to all of us. I'll be back right after this. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Continuing my conversation with Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming about the economy right now.

Senator, thanks for staying with us. We know that, generally speaking, Republicans would like lower taxes, would like lower taxes for small businesses to promote growth in the economy. Specifically, if I were one of your constituents saying what do you want this administration to do, at what cost, and at what benefit, with respect to jobs?

In other words, what should they do to create more jobs? What will it cost us? And how will it benefit us? What could you tell me?

BARRASSO: Well, one is, try to supply some certainty. There are so many threats hanging over the heads of small businesses, they're reluctant to hire.

One is this cap and trade energy legislation that would drive up the costs of energy for small businesses and producers. I have visited with a rancher from Wyoming this morning who was in, very worried about the death tax and the impact on that ranch that's been in the family for four generations.

Even the Internal Revenue Service this past week came out and said the mandates in the health-care bill are going to be very expensive for small businesses. They're going to affect 40 million small businesses, sole proprietors, sub chapter S, small -- small groups working to try to create jobs in this economy. Forty million are going to be hit with additional rules and regulations under the health-care bill. It is very onerous.

Talked to a man last night from Wyoming. I'm continuing to hear that people are very afraid to hire, because of the uncertainty coming down the line. And the president has an approach of redistribution of wealth, and his new health-care rationing czar has said that the health-care plan is to redistribute wealth in the country.

The incentives are being removed from individuals to try hard to succeed. This is a land of opportunity, and when there are so many onerous regulations and rules and taxes impacting on those people that are the job creators in this country, that's the -- that is the fear with 10 percent or 9.5 percent unemployment right now in the country, and they're saying, why is this happening? Why is there no end in sight for this unemployment? It is the policies coming out of this administration which are making it that much tougher.

VELSHI: And I know you and your colleagues are working on a bill that's going to prevent any more regulations from coming into place. Tomorrow we'll be speaking with Representative Eric Cantor about that.

Senator, thanks for joining us. Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, thanks for coming on and talking to us about the unemployment insurance matter that's going to be dealt with in about one hour of the floor of the U.S. Senate. We'll bring you an up to date -- we'll bring you an update on that as it happens. But first I want to check on some of the top stories that we're following here at CNN.

The Senate Judiciary Committee today approved the Supreme Court nomination of Elena Kagan. Next up, the final vote by the entire Senate, and that is expected to come at the beginning of August.

Johnson & Johnson says it's received a grand jury subpoena regarding a federal investigation into multiple recalls of its popular nonprescription drugs. The company says it's cooperating, but it provided no additional information.

And China has overtaken the United States as the world's largest consumer of energy. That's according to the International Energy Agency. China consumed the equivalent of 2.25 billion tons of oil last year, which was a tad above U.S. consumption of 2.17 billion tons. The measure includes all types of energy.

All right. Oil disaster. It's three months in, 92 days, but it's the third -- third month of the oil spill. And you're going to see it in a whole new different way. We're going to show it to you from the air and from the sea. We've got exclusive behind-the-scenes pictures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Day 92 of the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. It's actually the third month. Month three begins today. We are tracking the oil slick from the sea and from the air. But first let me just bring you up to speed with what is going on.

First of all, as you know, the oil well remains capped while they test the pressure under the earth. I'm going to show it to you in here. This is an animation of what used to happen, that oil was flowing. They then put this new cap onto the well head, and as a result of that, there's no more oil coming out.

Now, they continue to test the pressure in that well. If the pressure continues to increase, it means there's no oil leaking out. If it increases slowly or decreases, it means there's oil leaking out somewhere.

Now, what the next thing they want to do is, is pump mud into the well. It's called static kill, kind of like top kill. They pump mud into the well to force oil back into the reservoir below the surface of the sea, below the base of the sea. And it might actually work, now that oil isn't gushing out of the top of the well.

Now, these are still thought to not be permanent solutions. The permanent solution is still expected to be the relief well. Let me see if we've got a picture of that that we can show you. We seem to be having a lot of pictures of the new well, so I'm going to try something else.

All right. Let's take a look at this. This is the -- this is the idea that they -- the permanent idea. In the middle is the actual well. That's the one that we've got. And they're digging two holes on either side of it, intersecting that reservoir at a different place, and as a result, that will take the pressure off, and that will deal with the well permanently.

Now, the estimate is that 3.9 million barrels of oil have leaked into the Gulf of Mexico so far since the disaster started about three months ago. Hopefully, we don't see much more oil leaking into it, so that may be the total number. It's still a remarkably, remarkably large number.

And efforts continue to clean up the oil that is in the Gulf of Mexico still. There's still a great deal of oil there. Some of it's washing up on shores, but a lot of it remains right there in the middle of the Gulf.

And we've got two views of this right now. Amber Lyon is in a blimp, tracking the skimming boats that are covering the -- that are skimming up the oil. She's on the right of the screen there, shots coming in and out, but it looks like we've got her there.

And Rob Marciano on the left is on a skimmer boat, being tracked by the U.S. Navy blimp. So the two of them have got two different views of how this is going. Let's start with you, Rob. What's going on?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, Ali, the process of this operation all day long has -- well, in part, been led by that blimp or air ship, as they like to be called, owned by the Navy and kind of borrowed by the Coast Guard and some contractors who are reconning. I'll let Amber talk more about that.

But basically, we are the command vessel of our sector. We are in command of ten skimmers, which are all vessels of opportunity, as is this one, a 60-foot, what is normally a commercial fishing vessel, charter vessel called Zeke's Lady. And, well, now it's a vessel of opportunity.

And we are the -- the point of contact for ten skimmers that have been working throughout the day today. For 15 miles we went to the west, now 15 miles we're going back. We did manage to skim some small amount of sheen with two smaller vessels of opportunity that had some absorbent boom, but that has about been the extent of it.

And in part because one, we have to stay somewhat close to shore to bring you these live pictures, which are quite phenomenal. Take a look at that air ship. That is spectacular, one of the more interesting and impressive tools now, weapons in the arsenal against this oil spill.

And even though you see sunshine and blue skies, the seas have been relatively rough. So skimming in rough seas is never easy, and as of about right now or a few minutes ago, they're pretty much ending skimming operations.

So that's what's been going on here. It's been a phenomenal process to watch, Ali, the coordinated effort that is this clean-up here in the Gulf of Mexico, which will continue for some weeks to come, but with the added help of that air ship, that Amber and the others -- the rest of the CNN team is on right now.

VELSHI: Let's go take a look. Let's visit -- let's take -- let's get the view from the top with -- with Amber Lyon in that air ship.

Amber, what's the -- what's the perspective from where you are?

AMBER LYON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, this is definitely an interesting perspective. We're about 500 feet from above the Gulf of Mexico. And this is why this air ship is such a valuable tool in spotting for oil and any injured wildlife.

Photographer Chris Turner is getting a shot of that right now, right outside this window. You can literally -- the spotters lean over and look into the Gulf to see if they see any animals that are in distress, any boom that might not be in order. And in fact earlier, we were flying, and we saw a little sea turtle swimming, and you could clearly see it out this window.

And that's why this blimp is so advantageous for them to use, because if you -- on the other hand, they've been using planes and helicopters, and those definitely fly a lot quicker over the water, and they use a lot more fuel. They can't stay out as long. This blimp could hover around here for ten hours, if they wanted to.

But it's -- what temperature is it in here right now?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, inside the cabin, we have a temperature of about 92 degrees with a heat index of 118.

LYON: Yes, 118, Ali. So that's why we're probably not going to be sticking around here for 10 to 12 hours. But -- but these brave guys have been doing that for the past 11 days, as they've been out here on the coast off of Gulf Shores, testing this blimp to see how useful it will be in the skimming process.

And as Rob Marciano said earlier, if they do spot anything on the blimp -- we haven't seen any oil out there yet today -- what they do is they radio down to Rob's boat, the command boat, and then they send skimmers out to clean anything up.

But fortunately, we haven't seen anything today, and speaking of not seeing things, take a look at the beach right now. You can see, there's a lot of empty lawn chairs and normally this time of year, this is a really busy travel season for Gulf shores, Alabama. There should--it's normally packed with families and tourists. But we're not seeing that out here right now, Ali.

VELSHI: All right Amber, you bring a couple of good points first of all, you're at the Gulf shores are testing this out, but if this works out, they can be much further out to sea where they know there is going to be oil. And then the heat. The fact is it's hot for those of us who have been out there reporting, but for the workers, the Coast Guard, the Navy and all those fishermen and all of the relief workers, there really hasn't been much of a break from the heat.

But they've just got to keep on going, because it's a battle against time.

LYON: That's right, Ali. And I want to bring in Tony, because he was telling me something interesting earlier. They have been testing this out the past 11 days, and you were telling me about losing a ton of weight out here just from sweating because of this heat.

TONY LOMBARDI, U.S. COAST GUARD: Yes Amber it's definitely hot up in the aircraft. On average the temperature inside the cabin ranges between 100 and 115 daily. For six to eight hour missions we're up we're all-- we're all definitely losing some weight and keeping hydrated while keeping observant.

LYON: What keeps you out here doing this every day, despite the hardships, because it's hot, and I mean hot?

LOMBARDI: Well it's definitely very effective. The fuel consumption of the aircraft is approximately 10 to 15 gallons an hour, so having the air ship airborne is more cost effective than having helicopters that can be doing more search and rescue if needed. And also the air ship can station keep (ph) longer as well as stay lower to detect oil in the water if we happen to come across any.

LYON: And before we go, Chris, if I could have you real quick get a shot of that beach, and then we're going to talk to my friend Web Moore. And Web, you were telling me you have seen a lot of people swimming in this water, and right now you guys are looking at that from 500 feet above the Gulf, you can't see any oil in there but Web says it's a different story.

WEB MOORE (PH) U.S. COAST GUARD: Actually, when we really can't see oil is normally from the standpoint when it's at twilight, because when the sun goes down, you can really see it. About two days ago, we saw a significant amount of oil with people actually swimming in the water.

LYON: So you could see the oil from up here, but the people that were in the water couldn't see t.

MOORE: No. There is no way they could have seen it with the low-level light until they actually got out and felt it on their bodies. So it's -- it was kind of -- one of the more disturbing things I've seen since I've been here.

LYON: All right. Ali?

VELSHI: All right, amber, thanks for that. What an interesting perspective. And regardless of whether or not that well is capped, we're going to be seeing this work going on for some time. So thanks to you and Rob Marciano who is in one of the skimmer boats on the ocean right there.

We'll be in touch with both of you and bring us anything you find when they find some oil they have got to skim off of there. Amber Lyon and Rob Marciano in the gulf of Mexico.

Amber talked about seeing sea turtles a little earlier today. Sea turtles have been rescued from the oil, they're cleaned up and getting ready to return to the wild, at least those able to be saved. Many more were not. But we've got an exclusive look inside the sea turtle rehab facility. You've got to see these amazing creatures.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: You know from watching this show for the last three months, we have talked from the beginning about the effect of that oil spill on wildlife, on animals, in and around the Gulf of Mexico. I want to go to Orlando, to Dr. Chris Dold who has joined us before in the studio with an alligator and with birds, and we were just talking to Amber Lyon about turtles in the Gulf of Mexico.

It's been a devastating story, Chris, of the turtles, so many of them have turned up dead. But you have actually done a great deal of work in terms of rehabilitating some of them. Tell us a little bit about that. You've got about 43 of them in rehab, some on their way back out to sea?

DR. CHRIS DOLD, VP OF VET SERVICES, SEAWOLRD: Yes. Certainly we have had turtles coming in all year. Most of them earlier in the year were because of the extreme cold winter we have had, but most of the recent additions to the turtles in our rehab program have come in either because directly being affected by the oil or from facilities who are making room for oiled turtles to come in.

VELSHI: Tell us about the effect of oil on turtles. What happens when they're exposed to oil. And I think you've got a turtle there you can show us how you would clean them. This one hasn't been exposed, but how you would clean a turtle.

DOLD: You're right. So any turtles that we look at right now came in anticipation of the oiled spill. But remember, as we have talked before, turtles that are exposed to oil, we worry about external and internal exposure.

So when the turtle ingests oil or were to breathe in the vapors off the surface of the water, it can affect the sensitive lining of their respiratory tract, it can interfere with their normal absorption of the food that they eat, and of course if there is oil stuck to the outside of turtle, it can make it difficult for the animal to move, or worse f it gets in their eyes, it can cause some permanent damage to the cornea and other parts of the eyes.

VELSHI: Now, tell me, how would you -- show me one of those turtles and how would you normally clean it? If it came in with oil?

DOLD: Sure. Well I'm not going to -- this is a kemp's ridley turtle here, and I'm not going to lift him out of the water because he's in rehabilitation right now. But when the turtle comes in, what you'll do is first make sure the turtle is stable, able to be treated, take care of any life-threatening problems that the turtle may have.

And then the secondary wave of treatment is to remove all of the oil from the animal, from the outside, and do as much diagnostic work as you can to make sure that it is -- isn't suffering any of those internal effects from oil exposure.

VELSHI: Sea turtles, Chris, are endangered, all sea turtles? is.

DOLD: Yes, exactly. Almost all of the turtles are endangered. Of course, the kemp's ridley is a highly endangered species, one of the most endangered species of sea turtles, and then green sea turtles are also being affected, another endangered species that we work with here at sea world. And are working hard to preserve.

VELSHI: All right, doctor Chris Dold, he's the VP of Veterinary Services at SeaWorld, they've been helping us out throughout this oil disaster, understanding the effects of the oil on various animals. Chris, we'll talk to you again for sure. Thank you.

DOLD: Sounds good. Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. In had a moment, I'm going to bring you the story of a woman who says her story of growth and change, how she became a better person grew her right out of her job. We'll hear from a former government official who say people are playing racial politics with her life and her livelihood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: In a matter of hours yesterday, Shirley Sherrod went from anonymous government employee to heart of a controversy to early retiree. She says she was forced to resign from her job at the Department of Agriculture where she was the director of rural development for Georgia, all due to the uproar over a viral video, part of a speech that she gave a few months back, that was abruptly posted on the conservative website, biggovernment.com.

At the heart of this story, like so many lately, race and politics and context. This can get a little confusing, so let's tell it with a time line. Yesterday, the video comes down of Ms. Sherrod speaking to a local chapter, a local Georgia chapter, of the NAACP back in March.

She is talking about discrimination faced by black farmers in the past and what she as a black woman saw as a chance to maybe avenge some of that injustice. Listen to her in her own words.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIRLEY SHERROD, FORMER USDA OFFICIAL: The first time I was faced with having to help (ph) a white farmer to save his farm, he took a long time talking, but he was trying to show me, he was furious -- I knew what he was doing.

But he had come to me for help. Well, what he didn't know, while he was taking all that time trying to show me he was superior to me, was I was (INAUDBILE).

I was trying to show him the fact that so many black people (INAUDIBLE) and here I was faced with a having to help white person, save their land.

So I didn't give him the full force of what I could do. I -- assumed the Department of Agriculture had sent him to me. (INAUDIBLE) And he needed to go back and report that I did try and help.

So I took him to a white lawyer that we had -- attending some of training that we had provided. Because chapter 12 bankruptcy had just been enacted for the family farmer.

So I figured, by taking him -- that this would take care of him. That's when it was revealed to me that it's about those the poor versus those who have. And not so much (INAUDIBLE) about it's not -- you know, it opened my eyes, because (INAUDBILE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)(

VELSHI: OK. You heard it in her words. About three minutes of Ms. Sherrod's 40-minute NAACP speech was put out there on the web. That was just days after the NAACP controversially condemned what it called racist elements of the Tea Party movement.

Now, when we come back, we'll hear it from Shirley Sherrod herself. She says not only is she seriously being taken out of context, but that it's being done on purpose.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: . All right. Let's get back to the Shirley Sherrod story and time line. As of yesterday, she was the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Director of Rural Department for Georgia. Now she is the former director.

As we have said, Ms. Sherrod said she was forced to resign by the Obama administration after bits of a speech that she gave -- that we just played for you -- hit the conservative blogosphere yesterday.

The speech that's got everybody fired up, Ms. Sherrod, who gave it is black. She gave it back in March, at a local NAACP banquet in Georgia.

And she talked about maybe not quite giving her all to a white farmer who had sought her out for aid. Now, some details that weren't played up yesterday. The deal with the white farmer, it happened back in 1986. Way before Ms. Sherrod joined the Department of Agriculture. At the time, she worked for the Nonprofit Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund. Still, she has been criticized by her new ex boss, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who says, "There is zero tolerance for discrimination at the U.S. Department of Agriculture"

And then there is the NAACP. President Ben Jealous last night issuing a statement last night saying the very group that gave her a forum is now appalled by her actions. Ms. Sherrod frankly is appalled, by all of this as well. She says she was trying to use the story of her own tinge of racism as a teachable moment, not to reminisce about sticking it to the man.

Here is her interview with Tony Harris.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHERROD: I know I didn't discriminate, and I made it very clear to the staff there at USDA that it wouldn't be tolerated during my tenure.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: So why are you out?

SHERROD: I said it over and over again.

HARRIS: Why are you out?

SHERROD: Pardon?

HARRIS: Why are you out?

SHERROD: Why am I out? they asked me to resign. And in fact, they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia yesterday. I had at least three calls telling me the White House wanted me to resign.

HARRIS: So the pressure came from the White House.

SHERROD: And -- and the last one asked me to pull over to the side of road and do it.

HARRIS: You willing to name names?

SHERROD: And that's exactly what I did.

HARRIS: Are you will to go name names?

SHERROD: Pardon?

HARRIS: Are you willing to name names?

SHERROD: Oh I can tell you, that was Cheryl Cook, the Deputy Under Secretary. She called me and said -- she called me, and I said, Cheryl, I've got a three-and-a-half hour ride to get into Athens. She called me a second time, where are you now? I said I'm just going through Atlanta. She called me again. I said, I'm at least 45 minutes to an hour from Athens.

She said, well, Shirley, they want you to pull over to the side of the road and do it. Because you are going to be on Glenn Beck tonight.

HARRIS: Wow. So the administration pressured you out.

SHERROD: Yes.

HARRIS: How do you feel about that?

SHERROD: I don't feel good about it because I know I didn't do anything wrong. . And I know during my time at USDA, I gave it all I had. I worked when I didn't feel like it. I pushed the staff to get out there in places they had not been into before.

Like I said, the nine counties I targeted, I asked them shortly after getting there, tell me what rural development has been doing in these areas? When they did that, there were zeros in a lot of places. And I knew this was an area where we needed to target, we need to get the programs out into some of these areas that need it just like some other areas that had gotten the funding over and over again.

HARRIS: So I want to be really specific here. I apologize -- I just have to do it. So you get one, two, three calls from Ms. Cook. And at the point that you have the conversation that it is made clear to you that you need to go, how does that conversation go? What is said to you?

SHERROD: The very first one, I guess there were like four calls. Because the first one was before I got in my car to go to Athens. She said I was being put on administrative leave.

The next call after I sat waiting and waiting because she told me she would call me right back. The next call said that they're going to have to ask me to resign.

HARRIS: Did you -- do you feel as though you had an opportunity to state your side of the story?

SHERROD: No, I didn't. The administration didn't -- they were not interested in hearing the truth. No one wanted to hear the truth.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: She says no one wanted to hear the truth. I want to bring this breaking news to you from the NACCP. They've just issued a statement regarding Shirley Sherrod. It says : The NAACP is conducting an investigation into the recent revelations about the situation with Ms. Shirley Sherrod. Including attempting to speak with Ms. Sherrod, the farmer in question, and viewing the full video.

Following a full and comprehensive process we will issue an updated statement.

We just got that from the NAACP. Well, the story's not finished. When we come back, we'll hear someone else's truth in a moment, the wife of the white farmer at the center of this whole thing weighs in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. We're continuing with the story of Shirley Sherrod. Just before the break, we heard from her. The NAACP has now given us this statement where it says the NAACP is conducting an investigation into the recent revelations about the situation with Ms. Shirley Sherrod including attempting to speak with Ms. Sherrod, the farmer in question and viewing the full video.

Following a full and comprehensive process, we will issue an updated statement. They want to speak to the farmer in question. We heard from Shirley Sherrod who resigned under pressure from her job, fairly senior job, at the department of agriculture here in Georgia.

She was accused of discrimination against a white farmer 24 years ago. In fact, she told the story herself, meaning -- to inform people about how she had learned from it. Now we're going to hear from the white farmer's wife. Eloise Spooner who spoke with CNN's Tony Harris a short time ago. As Sherrod listened in, Spooner said that Sherrod has been treated unfairly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELOISE SPOONER, ROGER SPOONER'S WIFE : Our son, he came up this morning and says, "Mama, turn on the TV to CNN." And he said, "It's about your friend Shirley Sherrod."

And I said, "What?" And we listened and I said, "Great days, that ain't right. They have not treated her right, because she's the one that I give credit to helping us save our farm."

HARRIS: What do you think of the statement that's on the tape? It's undeniable, it is there. Where Shirley essentially says, so I didn't give him the full force of what I could do?

SPOONER: Well, she gave enough that it helped us save our farm.

HARRIS: All right.

SPOONER: And she went two trips -- after the lawyer in Albany did us like he did, then I called Shirley and told her. And she said, you're kidding me? And I said, no, I'm not, that's the words he told me. She said, well, you want us to try the one in Americas in (ph) Easterland? I said. Yes, give us an appointment and we'll sure be ready to go.

HARRIS: Eloise, thank you for your time. All right

SHERROD: Please tell her I want to -- I don't know that she can hear me but I haven't talked to her in years. I'm so happy to hear that both of them are still living and Ms. Spooner, I definitely want to contact you.

SHERROD: OK. Well time we heard about you. We tried to call you but Roger couldn't get a hold of you. I hate it. Maybe you can --

SPOONER: Yes.

HARRIS: We'll make the connection. How's that? We'll make that happen.

SHERROD: Thank you so much. It is so great to hear your voice.

HARRIS: And, Shirley, thanks to you. Thanks for your time and a fuller explanation of your comments. Appreciate it.

SHERROD: OK. Thank you so much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: OK So you've now heard from Shirley Sherrod. You have heard from the wife of the farmer in question. We've heard from the NAACP. And we are at 8:00 tonight on CNN going to hear from the conservative blogger who started this whole thing.

CNN is trying to get in touch with the Department of Agriculture for comment. So far, nothing yet. We are minutes away from a live news conference at the White House. President Obama hosting the new Prime Minister of great Britain, David Cameron.

Ed Henry joining me to set the stage when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: I promised you Ed Henry. But instead you get President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House.