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Congress Looks at 'Phantom Recall'; Toys & High Chairs Recalled; Teen Suicide Follows Sex Spying; CNNpolitics.com Update; Songs That Make Dudes Cry

Aired September 30, 2010 - 11:59   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes, in for my good friend Tony Harris.

Top of the hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM, where anything can and often does happen.

Let me tell you what we've got for you coming up.

It's a day of recalls and recall hearings. We're taking a look at what's being done to make sure the products you buy are safe.

Also, what's in that lunch that you are eating right now? Probably some corn syrup.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not that you're eating corn. It's not a vegetable. It's a highly industrialized product that has been shown to do lots of yucky things in your body.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Corn syrup doesn't necessarily mean corn. Somebody should have told me that.

Josh Levs looking at what's online for us.

Hey there, Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, T.J

The economy has been growing a bit faster than previously thought, but still painfully slowly. We've got new numbers and insight for you right here at CNNMoney.com.

HOLMES: All right, Josh. We'll check in again with you again here shortly.

Let's get to our big story right now. It seems to be another case of a big corporation putting profit ahead of safety. Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson answering to Congress today about what's called a phantom recall.

Elizabeth Cohen stepping in here, our medical correspondent. Let me start with this. A lot of people right not realize what a phantom recall is. Explain that, first of all. Kind of tricky here.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is tricky.

This recall kind of -- it wasn't even a recall. It was sort of under the radar. It was very odd.

What happened is Johnson & Johnson makes all sorts of products like Tylenol and Motrin and other products both for adults and for kids. And in May, 2009, it appears that they realized that at one of their factories, they were getting things like little pieces of metal and bacterial contamination in their products.

Now, what they should have done is they should have issued a recall. Instead, what it appears that they did is they hired a contractor to go out and buy all the products up.

HOLMES: Pretty slick.

COHEN: It's an interesting way of dealing with the problem, I'll certainly say that. So now there's a hearing. And William Weldon, who's the CEO of J&J, is going to speak for the first time. They invited him a couple months ago, but he said he was too ill to testify to Congress. So it will be interesting to hear what he has to say.

HOLMES: And for all we know, these phantom recalls -- I'm fascinated by this, by the way. That's why I'm asking. It's legal for the most part. They tried to do what they could to get the stuff of the market, but they didn't want that stigma of having a formal recall.

COHEN: Right. Whether it's legal is questionable.

HOLMES: Don't know yet. OK.

COHEN: But what's interesting is that there are documents that attest or seem to attest to exactly what you're saying. When Congress looked into this, they found these documents where J&J hired a contractor and said, hey, we want you to take care of this. And here's what the contractor did.

They issued a memo to their folks saying, "Visit all the stores on your schedule." These are quotes. "Purchase all of the Motrin and act like a regular customer."

So I guess it's almost laughable. These folks were supposed to walk into a CVS, or whatever, buy up all the Motrin, act like a regular customer. And this is the smoking gun here. They say in all capital letters, "THERE MUST BE NO MENTION OF THIS BEING A RECALL OF A PRODUCT!"

HOLMES: Oh, wow.

COHEN: Yes. So when you have a document like that, J&J has pretty much come forward and said we take responsibility for this. HOLMES: Where is the FDA in all this?

COHEN: You know, what's interesting is that you often here people say, oh, the FDA recalled a drug. You know what? The FDA doesn't do recalls. Companies do recalls.

The FDA often pressures them, but it's the company that does it. So, the FDA, there's a question as to what they knew and when they knew it.

And actually, let's take a listen from a congressman who had something to say about that today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DARRELL ISSA (R), CALIFORNIA: The FDA's explanation appears to include seemingly false statements to this committee in April of this year. Given the documents received by the committee, it demonstrates the FDA was, in fact, aware of Johnson & Johnson's quiet recall of adult Motrin products, something they led us to believe they were not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Wow. He sounds like he's pretty convinced about what happened.

COHEN: Right. It'll be interesting to see, what did the FDA know and when did they know it? And if they did know about this phantom recall, why didn't they put a stop to it?

HOLMES: All right. Pretty popular drugs here. People want to know, Johnson & Johnson, can I buy these medicines now?

COHEN: Well, they have not been available on the market for some months now. And I'm hoping they're safe because they're reshipping them shortly, like next week. At least some of them. So cross your fingers. Hope they're safe.

HOLMES: Wow. That gives me a lot of confidence here.

COHEN: I know. I'm sorry. But, you know, they said they were safe before, and then they bought them all up. And we'll have to see how this goes on.

HOLMES: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, appreciate you, as always.

COHEN: Thanks.

HOLMES: Thank you so much.

Well, let's turn to another recall now, another product. This one involving your children, millions of Fisher Price baby toys and high chairs.

Christine Romans with our CNN Money team on the story for us. What should we start with here, the high chairs, the toys? Where should we even start?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Let's start with the biggest one, tricycles for little kids, for toddlers. These little trikes, seven million of them, T.J.

The company and government saying do not let your children ride these. Trikes and Tough Trikes toddler tricycles, the risk of serious injury is there. Some children have been injured.

You can see on our picture there, there is a little plastic key, a key which is right by the groin area for a child. And that key can scratch, cut and hurt a child, and has in some cases in the past.

What you need to do is you need to call the company, remove the key from the trike. Don't let the child play with it until a new key has been given to them.

So, this is important. Seven million of these could be in your garage or in your playroom.

Also, there's some infant toys here. These are for very young children.

They're infant toys, these play stations that have an inflatable ball. There's a valve on that inflatable ball that can become loose and be a choking hazard for children.

This is what they look like. There are a lot of different serial numbers. I encourage you to go to the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the Fisher Price and Mattel Web sites to get the right number so you know if your product is involved in here -- but 2.8 million of these.

Also, some high chairs. The problem with these high chairs, T.J., is on the back there's a clip or a little thing on the back of the legs that allows you to put the tray -- to snap the tray on the back of the high chair when you're not using it, almost a million of these.

Well, that clip has actually scratched, hurt and cut some children. Some children requiring stitches when they have brushed up against it or run against it. It's a sharp clip. Again, put the high chair away.

And then a smaller recall, about 100,000 of these Little People Play toys. I'm sure you've seen these, you know these -- you've got nieces and nephews there -- in the toy box.

There are green and purple cars in this particular set. On those cars are wheels. The wheels can come off.

They are very small. They are a choking hazard for young children. Those wheels are not supposed to come off.

So take the green and purple ones, put them aside. Talk to the company about a replacement -- T.J.

HOLMES: OK. Is that for the most part what they're doing here? You can get these replaced? Are they telling people just remove the hazardous parts of these things and then you can keep using them, or can you get your money back? What should people do?

ROMANS: For the most part, contact the company and you can get a kit to fix it yourself. In the case of those Trikes, seven million of them, they have a new key apparatus that they're going to allow there, so you don't have to return the whole toy.

But if you've got this in your playroom right now, take the key out if you can. And if you can't, then make sure you contact the company. Don't let your kid use it either.

There have been some serious injuries from that particular toy. The placement of that key is problematic for a small little child riding.

You know, their motor skills aren't that great. They're learning how to ride a little trike. It can cause some bumping and bruising and some problems. So be careful there.

You know, as everything, as a parent, take a look at all the things in your toy chest. Make sure if there are little pieces falling off, if it's something that's small enough that can fit through like a toilet paper holder roll, a toilet paper roll, a little cardboard, if it's something that can fit through there, if the child is under 3 years old, it shouldn't be in the toy box at all. So it's a good reminder to look for those choking hazards in your household right now.

HOLMES: Spoken like a true mom.

Christine Romans, we appreciate you as always.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

HOLMES: And folks, if you want to know more about these recalls, CNN.com. We've got it all laid out for you, the exact stuff that she was talking about.

But Christine, we appreciate you, as always.

ROMANS: Sure.

HOLMES: Well, turning now to that story we were telling you about that you're going to be hearing a lot more about, about a Rutgers freshman who committed suicide, apparently. Eighteen-year-old Tyler Clementi is the name. Apparently killed himself after a sexual encounter with another man was secretly streamed online.

We get the details now from our affiliate, WPIX.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) ARTHUR CHEN, WPIX-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Authorities tonight may have recovered the body of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi. Witnesses spotted the freshman on the walkway of the George Washington Bridge last Wednesday. His car was discovered nearby with his wallet, I.D., cell phone and laptop inside.

Just days earlier, authorities say his roommate, Dharun Ravi, also a freshman, secretly taped Clementi's sexual encounter with another man.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was very himself. They never fought. I've never seen them fighting. I never even seen them ever talking. So --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He was Dharun's roommate --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Roommate. So there was really nothing about it. So this is all surprising to all of us what was happening.

CHEN: Danielle Burnbaum (ph) lives in the room next door in their Rutgers dorm, amongst those astonished that the two fellow students have been arrested and charged with invading Clementi's privacy to play out over the Internet.

Sources tell PIX 11 Ravi lined up his webcam and placed a Skype account on auto answer. On his twitter account he says, "Roommate asked for the room until midnight. I went into Molly's room and turned on my webcam. I saw him making out with a dude. Yay."

Molly Wei, Ravi's high school classmate's computer was allegedly used to access Ravi's webcam through Skype and his Twitter account suggested a second attempt to peek into Clementi's life. Two days later this message, quote, "Anyone with iChat I dare you to video chat me between the hours of 9:30 and 12:00. Yes, it's happening again."

This followed days later by a Facebook status this time updated by Clementi saying plainly, "Jumping off the GW Bridge. Sorry."

The medical examiner's office now will conduct an autopsy. Sources say the parents of the accomplished violinist may have been unaware their son was gay.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: You knew that Tyler was gay?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Because I live next door to him. It was just like obvious. He had the guy in his room. I saw that. Like --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Did the guy come in more than once? Or was it just that one time?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I only saw him once.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Was he a student or -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. He was a little bit older.

CHEN: If authorities are able to prove a connection between Clementi's death and the alleged invasion of his privacy, the 18-year- old will join a disturbing growing trend of young students across the country who are cyber bullied to the point of collapse.

Some perhaps intentionally cruel, some perhaps carelessly.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And a reminder here that Twitter and Facebook pages are fairly easy to fabricate. So we want to clarify here that those posted messages are believed to be from the suspect and the victim, but CNN has not yet confirmed, in fact, that they were from those two.

Well, coming up here, high fructose corn syrup. Is that really the villain that we've been led to believe it is? Well, there's a new marketing campaign that says no, but we're checking the claims.

But first, we've got our "Random Moment" in 70 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, as we have been telling you this week, CNN taking a cross-country food tour, if you will. We've got reporters all over the place reporting about food this week.

Well, what are we trying to get at here? We're trying to get some answers about how our food is grown, how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budgets. And, yes, just the pure joy of having a good meal.

We have teamed up with our new CNN.com food destination, Eatocracy.com, to bring you "Eatocracy: Mind, Body and Wallet."

So, on that note, you heard it from nutritionists -- stay away from high fructose corn syrup. But its makers now say the product is getting a bad rap.

CNN Brianna Keilar separates fact from delicious fiction.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Just walk down the aisles of your grocery store, check out the ingredients on labels, and you'll see the same thing over and over.

JESSICA HANEY, MOTHER, BLOGGER: High fructose corn syrup is the first ingredient.

KEILAR: It's in pancake syrup, cookies, ketchup, jelly, even cereal and soup.

(on camera): Tomato soup, high fructose corn syrup.

HANEY: And it's the third ingredient after tomato and water. Yes.

So there you go. Some people think, oh, tomato, it's a vegetable. I'm giving my child, you know, a vegetable serving.

KEILAR (voice-over): Each year Americans consume on average almost 38 pounds of high fructose corn syrup. But not Jessica Haney. This mother of two and the voice behind a blog called "Crunchy Chewy Mama" has cut the corn-based sweetener out of her family's diet.

HANEY: It's not just squeezing out the corn and getting the sugar or something, it's not that you're eating corn. It's not a vegetable. It's a highly industrialized product that has been shown to do lots of yucky things in your body. And we just don't need it.

KEILAR: Many Americans are convinced high fructose corn syrup is one of the culprits of the country's obesity epidemic. In a recent study, 57 percent of those polled said it was a top food safety issue, right up there with artificial growth hormones in milk and mad cow disease.

That concern is reflected in the demand for food that's free of high fructose corn syrup. Just check out Pepsi's newest offering, Sierra Mist, made with real sugar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: It's the soda nature would drank if nature drank soda.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: For all of the bad buzz around high fructose corn syrup, a number of studies suggest there is no difference how the body responds to it versus plain old sugar. In 2008, the American Medical Association said, "insufficient evidence exists to specifically restrict the use of high fructose corn syrup." But the issue isn't settled. The AMA also encouraged further independent research on the health effects of high fructose corn syrup.

(on camera): We're here at Princeton University because this is where one of the most recent studies -- and a very controversial one, on high fructose corn syrup and how it's different than sugar, was recently conducted. It's a study that involves rats, and it was released just this year.

BART HOEBEL, PROFESSOR, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: Our studies were conducted in the simulated soft drink. It was high fructose corn syrup in water.

KEILAR (voice-over): Professor Bart Hoebel and his team of researchers gave a second group of rats access to regular sugar dissolved in water. The rats drinking the high fructose corn syrup mixture actually consumed fewer calories than those drinking water sweetened with real sugar. And even so --

(on camera): You found that the rats consuming the high fructose corn syrup got significantly fatter?

HOEBEL: Exactly. And this what is led us to believe that those two are not the same after all.

KEILAR: Critics of high fructose corn syrup point to Hoebel's research as proof that body metabolizes it differently than sugar while some experts criticize the voracity of his findings. Hoebel says more research needs to be done. As to scientific verdict on high fructose corn syrup remains inconclusive, the Corn Refiners Association, which represents producers of the sweeter knows it has a public perception issue, and is trying to rebrand it as "corn sugar."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I learned whether it's corn sugar or cane sugar, your body can't tell the difference. Sugar is sugar.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: IN addition to this multimillion-dollar ad campaign, the Corn Refiners Association has petitioned the FDA to use corn sugar on ingredient labels.

AUDRAE ERICKSON, PRESIDENT, CORN REFINERS ASSOCIATION: High fructose corn syrup is simply a sugar made from corn. It is an added sugar in the diet, and this effort to provide clarity to consumers will help them recognize added sugars in the diet.

KEILAR: Many skeptical consumers, like Jessica Haney say high fructose corn syrup by another name is still something she won't be feeding her family.

(on camera): You think the change of the name is very misleading.

HANEY: Oh, yes. I do. We do molasses and honey and maple syrup, things that all have minerals embedded within them and that come with fiber, whereas the fructose corn syrup doesn't.

KEILAR: But it would take a lot of Jessica Haneys to eat away at that startling statistic: 38 pounds of high fructose corn syrup per American per year.

Brianna Keilar, CNN, Arlington, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So can I eat it or not? Can I?

All right. Maybe the answers are going to be at CNN.com/eatocracy. But I was really paying close attention to that to figure out what I can eat tonight and I still don't know.

Get more stories there about healthy eating, including high fructose corn syrup. It's also where you can learn more about how to unlock the "CNN Healthy Eater Badge" on Foursquare. Well, we are going to take a check of the weather here coming up. I just saw a live picture a moment ago of a couple of live reporters where it was really coming down. Maybe we're going to check in with them here shortly as well.

But it is -- it's coming down in buckets along the Eastern Seaboard today. Tropical storm leftovers likely to mean some flooding.

We are heading to the CNN Severe Weather Center, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(NEWSBREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, coming up, we're going to be talking about avoiding deadly encounters with explosive devices in Afghanistan.

This is our Jason Carroll, who's going on patrol with U.S. soldiers, leaving the safety of the perimeter of a base.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Well, CNN has been following the story of Army Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter. He recently returned to Afghanistan for his third tour of duty. Shortly after his arrival, Sergeant Shorter and his men patrolled outside the protective perimeter of the base.

This is some dangerous territory, and our Jason Carroll joined this patrol.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT. FIRST CLASS RANDY SHORTER, U.S. ARMY: Everybody's going to get hands on, on the radio, so that way there's no if, ands, or buts --

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sergeant Shorter hadn't been on the ground in southeastern Afghanistan for two hours, and already, we found him at work testing weapons, quickly getting gear and his platoon's armored vehicles ready to roll.

(on camera): This is the moment where you got to get a lot done in a short period of time, right?

SHORTER: That is correct. It's a frustrating time.

CARROLL (voice-over): Shortly after arriving at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Shorter's orders changed. His platoon made up of 14 soldiers convoy to a much smaller forward operating base just a few miles away, FOB Rushmore, located in an area where the Taliban still has a heavy influence. (on-camera): We're about to go on a convoy outside the wire, which is a term which basically means outside the protective perimeter of the base. Before you go, you've got to make sure that you've got your armored gear on. I've got it, as well as a helmet here for civilians.

This one's got your last name on it, as well as your blood type. This is a precaution that's done any time you accompany troops outside the wire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The guys know if we strike an IED, they know how we operate. They know as soon as an IED hits. We, as American forces, want to pull our buddies out.

CARROLL (voice-over): Little is said during the 20-minute trip to FOB Rushmore. The road is known to be secure, but in a volatile region like Patika Province, where 19 U.S. soldiers were killed in a single weekend, nothing is for sure.

Shorter's role required his platoon regularly operate outside the wire.

SHORTER: You know, every day you go out that wire, you know, and you say your last -- you make peace with yourself. And you just tell yourself, hey, you know, today could be the day.

You go out. You do what you've got to do. Don't think too much of it and, you know, just hope you come back.

CARROLL: On this day, a delay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is what the enemy does.

CARROLL: Shorter's armored convoy held up. Smoke nearby signals an IED may have been detonated.

SHORTER: It's not confirmed, but there's little reports regarding two -- I guess two teenagers on a motorcycle may have set off a remote IED.

CARROLL (on camera): So there's no age range that we're talking here for these people? It could be teenagers who do this, it doesn't matter?

SHORTER: It doesn't matter.

CARROLL (voice-over): No soldiers were hurt, so Shorter's platoon moves on to check a vital road to the north.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This whole stretch used to be pretty much a good IED alley, because this is a main key route from that links Ghazni two Patika (ph) provinces.

CARROLL: This is familiar ground to Shorter. He checked this same spot during his last deployment two years ago. SHORTER: I was starting to see the same IED holes that I remember back. So, a lot of flashbacks are coming back, but I see a lot of improvements. So that's a good thing.

CARROLL: Troops on patrol always eyeing anything remotely suspicious.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Behind and up on the ridgeline --

CARROLL: The smoke from earlier, a reminder of what's at stake.

Shorter is just one of 30,000 soldiers now flooding the most dangerous area of Afghanistan. He's fighting a nine-year-old war. This year, its deadliest on record.

SHORTER: As soon as I'm outside that wire, it's combat. Sorry to say. Yes, it may be green in other aspects. But I'm ready to fight as soon as I walk out of that door.

CARROLL: Obviously, based on what they have happened today, they're ready to fight as well.

(END VIDEOBREAK)

HOLMES: All right.

Well, coming up, it has been a rough couple years for food recalls. Seems like every time you turn around, there's something else being recalled. Remember the peanut butter recall? Beef, salmonella in the eggs. Coming up next, I'm going to be speaking to a woman who's pushing for stronger standards. And it's awfully personal to her after the death of her grandson.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: As always, we want to remind you the spot to go. All the news you want to know about your money, CNNmoney.com. Still, top stories. Keeping an eye on Johnson & Johnson. The CEO up on Capitol Hill today, admitting the company made a mistake in their recall, a phantom recall that happened earlier this year. Not a formal recall. A phantom one, essentially buying up all the bad products on the market. You'll be hearing a whole lot more about that.

Also a little while ago, jsut about 30 points down now. The Dow down some 60 points. We've got Money Team, of course, keeping an eye on that as well.

But I want to move on to something we have been talking a lot about this week. Your food. Your health.

I'll tell you a story now of a young boy at the age of two-and-a- half. He died after eating a hamburger. It was tainted with E.coli. Nine years later, his grandmother is head of a group fighting for tougher food standards.

Pat Buck is executive director for the Center of Foodborne Illness and Prevention. And she joins me now.

Ma'am, thank you so much. This is not your training, if you will. I believe a teacher by your training, but you took up this cause. Can you imagine that what you went through with your grandson would get you to this point all these years later?

PAT BUCK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR FOODBORNE ILLNESS AND PREVENETION: No. I am totally surprised what happened. After Kevin died, and his death was truly horrific. We sat 12 days watching him and sometimes not even being allowed to touch him. And then to see what happened to him and to the whole family afterwards, I knew immediately that my life had changed, and that I was going to have to do something about foodborne illness. Four years after advocating, my daughter, Barbara Kwalcheck (ph) and I decided we would start our own organization, which is CFI. And it is guided by the mission that we want to prevent foodborne illness through research, education, advocacy and service.

HOLMES: And ma'am, I know this was extremely personal for you when your grandson died. But when you started to do research about foodborne illness, I guess what kind of jumped out to you that most of us might not be even aware of? What jumped out to you about the safety of our food these days?

BUCK: Well, the thing that really jumps out to you is that we do not know enough about foodborne illness. And so more research absolutely must be conducted in this area.

People do not realize that the foodborne illness is not just a tummy ache. It is much more serious many times than that. And for the ones who do survive serious cases of foodborne illness, they will have sometimes long-term health outcomes such as diabetes or chronic kidney, you know, disease.

HOLMES: I know it's kind of a two-pronged approach. Like you said, we need to know more about the foodborne illness. But how much of it is that we need to prevent our food from being tainted in the first place?

BUCK: Oh, absolutely. One thing that Kevin's death really pointed to me was that prevention is key. Tracing back the source of your food is very difficult if you're an individual citizen, like we were with a sporadic case of illness.

We need to have better laws in place. And right now, as you know, the Senate has just called for cloture on S-510 in the session after the elections. Of course, I'm very hopeful that this legislation will be passed. It contains some of the performance standards that were initially part of Kevin's Law that was introduced earlier in previous Congresses that we worked so hard to get.

HOLMES: Ma'am, one more thing to you here now. A lot of people -- we've been focusing on food, talking about it this week in a lot of our reporting. For just the layperson out there watching, how better off are we today and safer is our food today than it was when you started this some nine years ago at the time of your grandson's death? Have we made vast improvements?

BUCK: We've made some improvements. But the bottom line is we need to make many, many more improvements to prevent the types of serious illnesses that Kevin endured. When I think about the people out there that are still suffering, I just at times feel very, very frustrated because I've worked for nine years to try and get some solutions. And while we have made some progress, we still have a very, very long way to go. And legislation like S-510 will certainly give us some of the tools we need to get there.

HOLMES: Again, Pat Buck, executive director of the Center for Foodborne Illness and Prevention. Ma'am, thank you for your time. Sorry for your loss --

BUCK: Thank you. Yes.

HOLMES: -- but congratulations on the campaign you've been able to do. Again, a private citizen taking this up on her own. Ma'am, thank you so much for your time.

BUCK: Thank you.

HOLMES: All right. Coming up, we're going to turn back to our weather situation we've been keeping an eye on. The East Coast, buckets and buckets coming down. We're checking in with Chad Myers once again.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We've got some torrential rain we've been telling you about on the East Coast. Chris Brown is there. He's with our affiliate WNCT from Jacksonville.

Chris, concerned about some flooding. Can see the water starting to rise a bit there, at least where you are.

CHRIS BROWN, WNCT-TV CORRESPONDENT: Yes, T.J., it's been rising all morning long. Rising and falling, to be perfectly honest. It was higher. It's going lower. It's going back and forth as the rain comes and goes.

We asked for it a while back. Now we've got it, and way too much of it. This is the most severe flooding we've seen -- these houses behind me. You can actually see these people, there are people getting their belongings and wading through the water. They have some canoes out here trying to get people to their homes, to their belongings.

All these houses have been evacuated. The people that were in them are staying at Red Cross shelter. We've seen submerged cars, we've seen just deluges of rain. Feels like it's never going to stop sometimes. That's how we're feeling out here, at least.

But we talked to people at this apartment complex earlier today. And the people we talked with said as far as this flooding is concerned, they've never seen anything like it. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not this bad, no. I've seen it, you know, get bad behind the back apartments, but I've never seen it get up as high as it is in front of them.

BROWN: Are you scared a little?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A little bit. A little bit. A little nervous. Not going to go to work today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: T.J., I can tell you one thing. We are all certainly looking forward to hearing -- or seeing that sunshine this afternoon.

HOLMES: All right. Chris Brown reporting for us there in North Carolina. Thank you so much (INAUDIBLE) the weather situation.

Let's turn back to the political situation. Something that has been speculated for the past several days now. Rahm Emanuel. We got some news on him. The White House chief of staff.

Our Ed Henry is on the phone with us. Ed, a lot of speculation about him leaving and heading to Chicago to run for mayor. What do we know?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): That's right, T.J. In fact, we've been reporting it for days now it was likely to happen. We've now confirmed with sources close to Tahm Emanuel that he's going to officially step down at White House chief of staff on Friday. Then he's going to take some time to get here to Chicago over the weekend and basically begin his campaign for mayor in earnest next week.

He may not have, we're told by these sources, a big official kickoff next week. He may just go on sort of a listening tour, as many politicians like to call it in both parties. Go out there, listen to the voters.

He has a lot of work to do. In fact, I'm standing outside right now city hall in Chicago. We just arrived here for a story we're shooting on his bid for mayor. Just in the first couple people we started talking to, there are some folks saying they think his style, you know, a little harsh and tough. That has worked in Washington, but may or may not be the style that's going to bring this city together.

So, Rahm Emanuel, you talk to people close to him, they acknowledge he knows it's not a slam dunk. In fact, he's got a lot of work to do, and he's facing some deadlines. He's got November 22 where he needs signatures to actually get on the ballot. Then he's got a February 22nd primary. There's a whole lot of candidates from different spectrums of the party, different parts of the city ready who are ready to jump in here. So, some people may think it's going to be a slam dunk because of his power in Washington. But a lot of people here in Chicago already telling me, and I can tell you people from Rahm Emanuel acknowledging it's not going to be that easy.

A tough city to run for mayor in. They've had a mayor in Richard Daley now for a couple decades. This was a surprise. Rahm Emanuel wasn't expecting to be able to run this quickly. He was hoping to be mayor some day and had said that publicly, but was also expecting Mayor Daley would likely run for re-election again. His recent announcement he's going to retire took Rahm Emanuel and some of his advisers by surprise.

So, this is all happening very, very quickly. Obviously creates a hole at the White House to get a new chief of staff. I've been told for days now that Pete Rouse, a senior advisor there at the White House, a very well-known behind the scenes player. A long time trusted aid to the president dating back to his days in the Senate, is likely to be acting chief of staff in the short term while they figure out who's going to be long term.

As you know, a lot of people starting to leave the White House. That's pretty natural for any administration after a couple of years to have some turnover. But it's a pretty big political development these days.

HOLMES: A big political development. A lot of people will be concerned about what's happening in the White House and that was going to be my follow-up there, but you answered it, Ed, yes, it seems like a lot of people are leaving but this happens in every administration. Just some turnover. It just happens after a couple of years of any administration.

Ed Henry, we appreciate you. We're going to have a whole lot more on this story coming up throughout the day and throughout the afternoon as well here on CNN.

Meanwhile, the House Minority leader, he is vowing reform. We've got a live update coming from our cnnpolitics.com desk. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Time for your cnnpolitics.com desk update. And our chief national correspondent John King, also host of "John King USA," with "The Best Political Team On Television," joins us now.

A bunch of other titles, but that's all I could get in one breath, John. I know you've got some stuff you're going to tell me about that's crossing, but let me ask you about the news we just got from our Ed Henry essentially confirming now about Rahm Emanuel. What does it mean for this president to lose this guy right now?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are a lot of people who are hoping the door hits Rahm Emanuel on the way out. And what's surprising, T.J., is some of those people are liberals who initially were big Rahm Emanuel supporters, who are now disappointed with this administration.

But what it means is, yes, a lot of politics, a lot of controversy around Rahm Emanuel. What it means for the president is, it's part of a changing of the guard inside the White House. His economic team has largely left. His national security adviser will probably leave right after the election. So he faces a big choice.

He'll have an interim chief of staff, and then he'll face a choice after the elections. Do you pick somebody else from within who's been with you say all the way back from the 2008 campaign or do you go outside and pick somebody. Maybe somebody with better relationships with Republicans, because we don't know how many seats the Republicans are going to win in November, but we do know they will win more seats.

So do you try to go inside or outside? That's the big debate in Washington. Most expect the president will pick somebody from within his inner circle, though.

HOLMES: All right. I know you've got some other stuff you wanted to tell us about that's crossing, but wanted to go ahead and get your feedback on that story since we were just getting that confirmed. So, go ahead. What else is crossing right now, buddy?

KING: Well, another thing, there's a big crossing today, it's related to the subject we were just talking about. A lot of chatter both from Democrats and Republicans about the man who would be speaker, Republican John Boehner. I'll show you one story on the ticker. This is about Democrats targeting the Republican leader, John Boehner. If Republicans win 39 seats, he'll be the next speaker of the House of Representatives.

And he's going to give a big speech today here in Washington to lay out what he would do if he gets that privilege and honor to be speaker. And among the things he will say is, let's stop voting on these huge, sweeping spending bills. The best way to cut spending, he says, is to bring every agency, bring NASA up, bring the Education Department up, bring the Commerce Department up, bring them up one at a time instead of in these big massive spending bills so that people can look at the merit of each agency and each program. Speaker Boehner will make the case that's a better way and more efficient way to find waste and inefficiency in government. That's one thing.

Tonight on "JOHN KING USA," we're going to look at a fascinating new cover story, T.J., in "Time" magazine, "Locked and Loaded: The Secret World of Extreme Militias." A great reporter, Barton Gellman, has done a six-month investigation for "Time" magazine on this. And among the startling revelations, remember the Holocaust Museum shooter? The guy who came and killed the guard at the Holocaust Museum? Well, Bart Gellman reports that he wanted to target the president's senior adviser, David Axelrod, and the Secret Service was alerted in that case. One of the many fascinating details we'll explore tonight.

And one last one for you. A second poll now reaffirming that the Republican, Marco Rubio, seems to be pulling ahead in one of the more fascinating Senate races this year in the state of Florida. The Quinnipiac University poll out today, Marco Rubio, the Republican, at 46 percent. Charlie Crist, the former Republican, now the independent candidate, the governor of Florida, at 33. Kendrick Meek, the Democratic congressman, at 18. Those numbers roughly matching up with our CNN/"Time" survey from yesterday that had it Rubio 42, Crist 31, Meek 23. That Florida race, T.J., one of the many fascinating.

And remember, folks out there, we're hitting the final month of the campaign. So a lot of things to see on the ticker and a lot of things to think about if you're a voter.

HOLMES: All right. John, we appreciate you as always, buddy. We will see you plenty throughout the day. And, of course, "John King USA" tonight at 7:00 Eastern Time.

KING: Thank you very much, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Well, your next political update coming up in one hour. And, of course, you know where to find the latest political news, cnnpolitics.com.

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HOLMES: All right. Hate to see a grown man cry, but Josh Levs is about to make grown men cry with this segment. This is hot on the Internet right now, right?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Allegedly. Everyone's talking about this list. Well, let's just play a clip. Does this make you cry? Listen.

HOLMES: Let me hear it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BONO, U2 (singing): With or without you. With or without you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE). Does that bring tears to your eyes?

HOLMES: It's so bad that I want to cry. But other than that, no.

LEVS: Oh, geez. Oh, man. That might be the first time someone's actually dissed U2 on our air.

HOLMES: I didn't mean to. Bono's a powerful man.

LEVS: Exactly. That's what I'm saying. All right, T.J., here's another one. Let's go to the next one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SINEAD O'CONNOR (singing): Nothing compares. Nothing compares to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Sinead O'Connor.

HOLMES: Beautiful song. Beautiful song.

LEVS: Yes, it's a good song, actually.

HOLMES: But tears don't bring --

LEVS: That's what I'm saying.

HOLMES: I mean, it ain't the songs that's going to bring tears to your eyes.

LEVS: I know. Well, apparently they do for some people. There was this study in Britain. Well, what it really was, was on online survey in Britain. See, this is the second time we've been talking about -- so let me just go to it.

So there's this survey at PRS Music which -- PRS4 Music. They collect royalties and provide them to artists. And they did this online survey, what songs make men cry. Let's just get right to this list.

So you've got there in front of you numbers 10 through six. "Angels" by Robbie Williams." "Unchanged Melody." "Unchanged Melody" makes you think of "Ghost." No tears involved. Eight, "Streets of Philadelphia." Seven, "Candle In The Wind." Six, "Drugs Don't Work."

Let's go ahead and do five down to one and then we'll play number one for us, see if that gets T.J. crying at all. Number five, "With Or Without You," four, "Nothing Compares 2 U." Three is "Hallelujah," Leonard Cohen. Two, "Tears In Heaven." Beautiful song. Sad story. Eric Clapton. Number one song on this list that make men cry, "Everybody Hurts," REM.

HOLMES: They say these literally bring men to tears?

LEVS: Well, they had more than 1,700 respondents. And they're saying that the guys are -- yes, when they were asked the names of songs that make them cry.

Now, I will tell you, our producer, Andreas (ph), was just saying "Cats In The Cradle" does it for him. And some song I've never heard of, "Wild Fire"? What was it, about a horse?

HOLMES: OK, that's Andreas.

LEVS: See, look, Ali's coming over and saying all these songs make him cry.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I am totally fine with admitting that half of the songs on that list make me cry. Come on.

LEVS: There's nothing wrong with crying.

VELSHI: Be a man. It's OK.

LEVS: I mean, I'm surprised by the list.

VELSHI: T.J., show your sensitive side.

HOLMES: Look, the song doesn't make me cry.

VELSHI: It makes me cry. Lots of things make me cry.

HOLMES: I'm going to cry to have to hand this newscast over to Ali here in a minute, but he's coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. That's it for me. Hand it over to my good friend Ali Velshi.

Now, Ali, it's all yours, buddy.

VELSHI: All right, T.J., you have a great afternoon. Thank you my friend.