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Four People Taken To Hospital After Laptop On Flight Catches Fire; Ohio Residents Still Not Allowed Home After Train Derailment; Interview With Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA): President Biden's State Of The Union Address; U.N.: Climate, Antimicrobial Resistance Threaten Global Health. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired February 07, 2023 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: A terrifying takeoff during a United Airlines flight out of San Diego today. The passenger's laptop battery caught fire, forcing the plane to return to the airport. We're told four people were then taken to the hospital.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, HOST: CNN's Pete Muntean is with us. Pete, what makes this so scary is that this seems like it could happen on any flight. What are you learning about this?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, the good news here, Victor, I'm hearing from you United Airlines that this flight crew followed the procedure to a tee which kept them from becoming so much worse. This is exactly why the FAA has that rule that has you put lithium batteries and lithium-ion batteries in your carryon bags and not in your checked bags simply because they can become so flammable. The chemical inside is very dangerous.

This is United flight 2664. It was on his way from San Diego to Newark. What I'm hearing from United Airlines a battery pack, an external battery pack caught fire, and a crew used something called a thermal containment bag to keep the fire from spreading throughout the cabin. It's been on airplanes since about 2016 because of the fire risk posed by lithium batteries.

The flight was only in the air for about ten minutes, but ultimately about six people had to be treated by emergency workers on the scene there. Four of them went to the hospital. But this was such a big risk on board airplanes, these lithium airplanes. In fact, back in 2015, a UPS flight crashed because of a shipment of lithium batteries on board caught fire.

There is really, really serious risk here, and the FAA and NTSB have both put out a lot of guidance about this. They are worried this could become more and more prevalent as we see these lithium batteries in more and more devices like smartphones, laptops, those battery backs, cameras, they're pretty much everywhere nowadays -- Victor and Bianna.

Kudos for the crew for their quick thinking and response there and their training. And also, a reminder, these rules are in place for a reason, right. BLACKWELL: Yes, certainly.

GOLODRYGA: Pete Muntean, thank you.

BLACKWELL: The controlled release of toxic chemicals on a derailed train in Ohio, that's now done, and there are no cars burning now.

GOLODRYGA: But residents evacuated from the town of East Palestine still cannot return home until officials know that it is safe. This was the moment Monday afternoon when the controlled lease began. A boom could be heard, and the burden off for this large blast plume of smoke. CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll is in East Palestine right now. And Jason, officials say all but one of the cars with toxic material have been removed. So, how soon before residents can go back home now?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the big question, and the short answer is officials still have no time frame on that. We pressed them on that issue simply because all the folks that we've run into who have been evacuated out here are asking the same question, Bianna. When can they go home?

First what has to happen is the EPA has to continue to do their testing at the site within the evacuation zone, and that includes testing the air, the water, the soil. They have to see what the safe limits are, and all that research basically isn't in yet. And so, they can't move on that until that research is in. And what happened is just a little earlier, the fire chief explained what they're up against in terms of trying to get that information in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF KEITH DRABICK, EAST PALESTINE FIRE: We're referencing subject matter experts to give us that data of what safe limits are in order to get these people home. I want nothing more than to get my residents back home. I can't do that without that data. All right? I have to know what those numbers are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARROLL: So, our drone is up live right now taking a look at the scene of the burn. Just a little bit of smoke there, but again, the controlled release worked. They also told us during an update just a short while ago that there were no serious injuries throughout all of this. Again, the fire is out. The NTSB can get in there, begin more of their investigation. This whole derailment seems to have been caused by some sort of a faulty axle. They'll get confirmation on that. But again, for all those people who were evacuated, they are still waiting -- Bianna, Victor.

[15:35:00]

BLACKWELL: Jason Carroll force there. Thank you, Jason.

Tonight's State of the Union address, President Biden's first before a divided Congress will be a new test for the president to sell his plans before a new Republican House majority and to the American people. We'll talk about it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:40:00]

BLACKWELL: In just a few hours, President Biden will head to the U.S. Capitol to speak directly to you. Tonight, the State of the Union address will mark his first in front of a divided Congress. This is an opportunity for the president to tout the accomplishments of his first two years in office, and test out his message for re-election.

Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, she is a Democrat from Washington. She's a member of the House Judiciary Committee. Congresswoman, good to have you. Let's start here with a couple of numbers here. This one the ABC News, "Washington Post" poll over the weekend, 6 and 10 -- more than 6 in 10 Americans say the president has accomplished very little or nothing at -- close to nothing in his first two years. What does he have to do tonight to potentially convince those 6 out of 10?

REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Well, Victor, it's great to be with you. I think people just need to hear from the president. They need to hear him brag about the tremendous accomplishments, and the fact that he has under just this last two years created almost 11 million new jobs, brought unemployment down in this country to the lowest level in over half a century. We're building things in America again.

Now some of these things haven't happened across the country yet because legislation takes a while to actually show up in districts, but, you know, I do know that seniors across the country are already feeling the effects of having $35 cap on insulin. These are all the things that I think the president will talk about tonight. And he will make sure that people understand this is a new era where this Democratic Party, this president care about working people, not about the wealthiest, you know, corporations and individuals that got big tax breaks under Donald Trump, but actually about working people, raising taxes on the wealthiest in order to fund things that really make life better for people every day.

BLACKWELL: So, we understand that some of the plans that have been signed into law that people are not feeling the effect of those yet. But let me give you one more number, 41 percent of the people in this poll said that they're actually financially worse off than they were at the start of this administration. This is the highest number in the 37-year history of this poll higher than at the worst point of the great recession. So, this is not so much a messaging problem. People are feeling worse financially.

JAYAPAL: Yes. I mean, look. It's true that we are coming out of one of the worst economic crises of -- in the history of this country. COVID combined with the economic crisis, that was a tremendous amount of pain that people went through under the last administration, under the last president. This president is the president that actually got shots in arms, that kept small businesses going. I don't expect that people will feel like everything is great because the reality is we've got a lot more work to do. And Victor, I think we're going to hear the president tonight talk

about the biggest inflationary cost that families are facing, things like child care and housing. Those are the things that are still to do in the president's agenda that he laid out that we got very close to accomplishing last session, but that we are going to get done once we have majorities again.

So I think you'll hear, of course, what we've done, but absolutely recognizing that Americans are still feeling pain, and that this president is going to use executive action, things like raising the overtime threshold to give workers -- 30 million workers across the country --

BLACKWELL: well, Then why hasn't he done it yet? If he can do it by executive action, why wait and do it later instead of already having it done in the first half?

JAYAPAL: Well, I think he's already done a lot by executive action. As you know, he raised, you know, federal contractors' minimum wages to $15. He fixed the ACA glitch to get millions more health care. There's more health care -- more Americans covered under the Affordable Care Act than ever before. So, he has been doing that. He will continue to do that. But I think the key message here, Victor, is this is a president who understands how to get things done. This is a Democratic Party that has delivered a lot for people. We have a lot more to do, and we will take that opportunity over the next two years, and hopefully when we get the majorities back again in 2024.

BLACKWELL: Foreign policy now. The White House says do not expect the president to speak specifically about the Chinese spy drone. We've been calling it a balloon. Calling it a balloon makes it sound quaint.

JAYAPAL: Yes.

BLACKWELL: This spy drone that traveled across the country. Should he? He'll talk about China and talk about foreign policy and the policy toward China, but should he talk specifically about what we watched traverse the country?

JAYAPAL: I don't think he needs to. I think he's already spoken about this. I think he did what he needed to do, which was prioritize the safety of the American people first and foremost, and then shoot it down so that he could collect -- so that this administration could collect whatever equipment was on that drone, and assess, you know, what exactly happened here. But I think he handled it the right way.

[15:45:00]

This is the moment to talk about his big vision, about all of the ways he's built diplomatic relations across the world in a way that frankly the last president destroyed. It was on this president to build back the credibility of the United States on the global stage, and Victor, I think he's done that.

BLACKWELL: Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, always appreciate you. Thank you, madam. JAYAPAL: Thank you, Victor.

GOLODRYGA: A new report ties two crises together. Why the U.N. says climate change is partly to blame for the rise in superbugs. We'll have more on that up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:00]

GOLODRYGA: Bracing for super bugs. That is the title of a brand-new report from the United Nations environment program, and it is quite alarming.

BLACKWELL: So the report warns that climate change and what's known as anti-microbial resistance are two of the greatest threats to global health and could result in 10 million deaths each year by 2050.

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now. Am I getting that number, right? 10 million deaths a year by 2050, because of these?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes, I know. It's pretty staggering. And I've got to tell you, before the pandemic, if you would have asked people in the infectious disease community what worries them the most globally, it would have been anti-microbial resistance. This idea that bacteria, viruses, even fungi, we have things can that help treat these in types of infections, but it becomes more limit as these pathogens figure out ways to evade what are the current, you know, sort of medications that are out there.

So about 5 million right now deaths associated with anti-microbial resistance. That was 2019. But just like you said, by 2050 up to 10 million. So, you know, this is a significant concern. I think part of the reason they're releasing this report is to just show people just how significant a problem this could develop into over the next several years. And that we need to have some actions in place.

GOLODRYGA: So, Sanjay, do we at least know what some of the factors are that are contributing to this increase? And if we do know, can that help solve this or slow it?

GUPTA: Yes, I think some of them won't be surprising to you. You know, when you think about antibiotic resistance -- again a lot of people have heard this term - there're a lot of things that are driving this. But one of the biggest things is that we are over-using antibiotics. Somebody has an infection, if you give antibiotics, what happens is, it may kill a certain population of the cells, but there may be some cells that were not killed by those antibiotics that will now replicate over and over again and they become these so-called super bugs. The more we use these or overuse these, the bigger problem that problem that I just described is. It's not just in people, but also in livestock, our food supply.

Climate change could be driving this. The same factors that warm the climate could also be inducing resistance among some of these pathogens, as well. Pollution, another driver.

You know, it's interesting, about something like fungi, for example. Fungi actually -- it's hard to get a fungus infection because our bodies are 98.6 degrees. Fungi don't grow really well in that temperature. As the climate warms, those pathogens start to become more acclimated to warmer temperatures, and as a result, maybe more likely to infect the human body, if that makes sense. So you can see, this is all sort of a big circle of events that kind of feeds itself.

BLACKWELL: We know that the COVID-19 pandemic compounded a lot of public health issues. Is there any carryover from the pandemic influence of COVID-19 on anti-microbial resistance?

GUPTA: Yes, I think so, because you know, we were tracking this pretty closely. Again, it's such an important topic globally. In the United States, if you sort of track between 2012, 2017, 2018, we seem to be making some progress in terms of deaths associated with anti-microbial resistance. Then you go to 2020, and all of a sudden, the numbers go back up. Close to 30,000 people, 29,400 people died as a result of anti-microbial resistance in 2020. Many of them, 40 percent, while in the hospital.

Now, the exact relationship is, you know, is not entirely clear. But one of the things that happens is that a lot of times, even for viral infections, people inappropriately receive antibiotics. Which are supposed to treat bacterial infections. That leads to an overuse of antibiotics, which again, can fuel this anti-microbial resistance.

GOLODRYGA: Really disturbing information there. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, important information to know, no less. Thank you.

BLACKWELL: The U.S. Navy has released new images, close-up images of the Chinese spy drone shot down over the Atlantic and the latest from the Pentagon. We have that for you, just ahead.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLACKWELL: Most 9-year-olds are just figuring out fractions. But one in Pennsylvania just graduated from high school. He's already attending college, hoping to become an astrophysicist.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, what happens when he asks mom and dad for help? Like, what? Sorry, we can't help. His name is David Balogun and he is now the youngest student ever to graduate from his charter school in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. And you know what? He can't understand what all the fuss is all about.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID BALOGUN, NINE-YEAR-OLD HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATE: Everybody started talking about how this is an incredible accomplishment and I was thinking how -- all I did is graduate. And then my mom is saying, yes, you graduated at the age of 9! And then I say, yes, I graduated. What's the big deal? NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, AMERICAN ASTROPHYSICIST: David, I was 9 when I

decided I wanted to be an astrophysicist, except I was still in fourth grade, OK. So -- just in case you didn't know this, it is unusual to be entering college at that grade.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: All of that modesty there, right.

BLACKWELL: I was watching this interview this morning and he was starting to explain a theory and they had to cut for time. And I could see on his face he was like, I want to continue.

GOLODRYGA: He was trying to debunk Einstein's theory.

[16:00:00]

BLACKWELL: Yes, yes, yes.

GOLODRYGA: But why pick any theory - Einstein.

BLACKWELL: But he had his own theory that he was trying to explain. All right.

GOLODRYGA: Well, good luck to him.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: We'll be hearing more from him.

BLACKWELL: Yes, and I think the way that ended was, Dr. Tyson offered him some tickets to come see him in the summer. So hopefully we follow up and get to see the two of them together.

GOLODRYGA: That's a really special moment.

Well, that is it for us this afternoon. "THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER" starts right now.