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UAW, Big 3 Returning To Bargaining Table; Search For The Missing In Flood-Ravaged Libya; Kim Tours Military Sites With Russian Defense Minister; U.S. Senators Push For Starlink Info; Morocco Earthquake; Death Of Mahsa Amini; FDA Panel Says Oral Decongestant Largely Ineffective; College Football. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired September 16, 2023 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM --
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SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT), CHAIR, BUDGET COMMITTEE: It is a fight to take on corporate greed.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders joined the UAW rally in Detroit. Coming up, how this strike is already impacting the auto industry.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Plus the special counsel investigating Donald Trump wants to limit what the former president can publicly say. We'll hear how Trump is responding.
And in Libya, the search continues as thousands are missing after flooding.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: We begin with the showdown between the United Auto Workers and the Big 3 carmakers. Negotiations are expected to resume in a matter of hours. But we're into the second day of a targeted strike that has some 13,000 UAW members walking the picket lines in three U.S. cities.
They are getting some reinforcements from Washington. The acting Labor Secretary, along with a top White House adviser, went to Detroit Friday to help sides reach a deal. President Biden says auto companies should go further to make a deal. Here he is.
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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Auto companies have seen record profits, including the last few years, because of the extraordinary skill and sacrifices of UAW workers. Those record profits have not been shared fairly, in my view, with those workers.
The bottom line is that auto workers help create America's middle class. They deserve a contract that sustains them in the middle class.
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BRUNHUBER: Contracts between the UAW and the automakers expired Thursday and covered all of the union's 145,000 members. The strike has affected all three. It's the first time there's been a union strike all three at the same time.
Ford and GM are offering a 20 percent pay raise over the term of a potential new contract. Stellantis has offered a 17.5 percent increase. The UAW wants an immediate 20 percent raise and four subsequent raises of 5 percent each.
There's a lot at stake, according to one analysis. A 10-day strike could cost the U.S. economy over $5 billion. There's already been some fallout. GM says its Fairfax, Kansas, assembly line, would soon run out of parts.
Ford told about 600 workers on a truck line in Michigan not to report to work Friday because the paint department there is on strike. The UAW president says 80 percent of the union's demands have been left off proposals from the automakers.
Ford's CEO says the union's wage demands would put his company out of business. We have details now from Gabe Cohen.
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GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sides are headed back to the bargaining table today, with the autoworkers' union telling CNN that it has sent counter offers to each of the Big 3 auto manufacturers and is now awaiting their response.
And it is not clear at this point what is in those offers. But it is going to take quite a bit to bridge the divide that we have seen between these sides.
And until a deal is met, until a deal is reached, I should say, we are going to continue to see picket lines like this, operating 24 hours a day, like the one here in Toledo, outside the Stellantis factory where they build Jeeps.
There are 13,000 autoworkers currently on strike between here and Ohio, at the Ford facility in Michigan and a General Motors factory in Missouri. The autoworkers I spoke with today said, despite only making $100 a day in strike pay, they are ready to strike for as long as they need to.
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BRUCE BAUMHOWER, PRESIDENT, UAW LOCAL 12: Our members are willing to stay in for the long haul. When we came out of bankruptcy, our starting pay at Jeep was $15.78.
Fourteen years later, it's $15.78. There's something wrong with that.
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COHEN: The head of the autoworkers union told me on the picket line, it is possible that additional factories will strike in the coming days if they feel that it is necessary.
Either way, you can expect we're going to start to see more of a ripple effect of additional manufacturing facilities and factories --
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COHEN: -- that may have to shut down operations, even lay off workers, because they cannot get the parts that they need to operate -- Gabe Cohen, CNN, Toledo, Ohio.
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BRUNHUBER: Donald Trump is lashing out at the special counsel investigating his 2020 federal election interference. He says Jack Smith is trying to rob him of his right to free speech.
Smith's office has asked a U.S. district court judge to pose a court order limiting what the former president can say in public about the case against him and Trump isn't pleased. Listen to this.
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DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: See today that the deranged Jack Smith, he's the prosecutor, he's a deranged person, he wants to take away my rights under the First Amendment. Wants to take away my right of speaking freely and openly.
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BRUNHUBER: Trump has already been ordered not to intimidate potential witnesses or talk to them about the facts of the case. Senior justice correspondent Evan Perez has more.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Here's what prosecutors are specifically asking for. They are asking for Trump basically to be limited from making statements regarding the identity, testimony or credibility of prospective witnesses and statements about any party, witness, attorney, court personnel or potential jurors that are disparaging, inflammatory or intimidating.
That's the focus on what they are trying to do. One of the things that the judge is going to have to keep in mind is the fact that a defendant has a right to speak. And judges are often reluctant to try to limit some of that, because they could create problems for an appeal.
And we also have the unusual situation where the defendant is running for president. Part of his the platform is his sort of beef with what happened in 2020. That's really what he's litigating as part of his campaign.
So it's not clear what the judge is going to do. It is true she has already warned him about some of his comments and statements and anything that could intimidate witnesses.
But you can bet what she's going to do, if she tries to limit it, is going to start small and see what Donald Trump does to try to abide by those. One of the things that is possible is to take a look at what he does on social media. We have seen that happen in previous cases.
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BRUNHUBER: So if Trump continues to try to undermine the judicial system by attacking prosecutors, judges and witness, he may find himself in serious legal trouble. Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe reacted to the news earlier on CNN.
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ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: This is an important next step. It is by no means a gag order. This is not -- that's not what's under consideration here. But this is elevating the warning, citing a specific local court rule and presenting it to him.
If she passes this, if she does it and I think she will, he's going to be officially on notice. Then the next instances, which I'm sure will come, will result in some real consequences.
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BRUNHUBER: The outer bands of Hurricane Lee are starting to blast the New England area at this hour. The category 1 storm is bringing 80- mile-per-hour winds along the northeastern coast. It's expected to move up through Maine and into Canada, bringing coastal flooding and high winds.
The worst conditions are forecasted for later today, with widespread power outages likely across parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Hurricane Lee is expected to weaken somewhat before it moves across the Atlantic coast of Canada on Sunday morning.
In Hawaii, the official death toll has fallen from the devastating wildfire on Maui last month. The state's governor, Josh Green, tells CNN, fewer than 100 people have died and nearly 3 dozen people are still missing. And he expects those numbers to continue to fall. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. JOSH GREEN (D-HI): The number of fatalities has actually dropped from what was projected to be 115. It's now 97. We still have about 23 people who have passed away, who we have not been able to identify yet.
And a lot of the 31 reports of missing people will, you know, that will cover the 23, I'm sure, who have not yet been identified. So the number will keep dropping.
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BRUNHUBER: Emergency teams in eastern Libya are still searching for thousands of people who disappeared after catastrophic floods hit the region. Their work has been exhausting and, at times, mentally distressing, as you'll see in this graphic video.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Here on the northern coastline, workers have been retrieving bodies from the water days after they were swept out to sea. Crews have also been searching for the missing by combing through the rubble of collapsed buildings.
First responders from all around the world have been helping out. Many are focused on the city of Derna, which has seen the worst damage.
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SADI CHOBAN, DERNA RESIDENT (through translator): Hours before the floods, came the situation seemed manageable, with local authorities keeping the flooding under control.
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CHOBAN (through translator): However, the rupture of the dam caused a huge problem and resulted in a flooding, killing many people. It's a tragedy.
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BRUNHUBER: The sheer scope of the devastation has made it difficult to determine the exact death toll. But estimates range between 5,000 and 6,000. Even though the extent of the tragedy remains unclear, the U.N. says there is no doubt about what caused it.
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MARTIN GRIFFITHS, U.N. UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: This is a tragedy in which climate and capacity has collided to cause this terrible, terrible tragedy.
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BRUNHUBER: We have more details now from CNN's Jomana Karadsheh in Derna.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's a storm like no other Libyans had ever seen before. But it's not only Mother Nature's wrath that's to blame for these apocalyptic scenes in Derna.
(on-camera): Right up there is where the dams were. When they burst, it unleashed all that water. The floods that swept entire neighborhoods like this into the sea. And you can see the force of the water when you look at buildings like this and you can see how high the waves were.
(voice-over): Waves as high as 22 feet or seven meters submerged buildings and the current so strong destroyed almost everything in its path and washed it all into the sea. The Mediterranean turned into a graveyard for the people of Derna.
How many lives lost here?
No one really knows but it's in the thousands. The ones crystal clear blue waters now murky and brown tell the grim story of a city that once was of those gone young and old.
Children, a few months old, elderly people, pregnant women, they're in the sea, 21-year-old Abdel Wahab tells us. With nothing but a rope tied around his waist, he pulled 40 bodies on the first day, he says.
There are other bodies, we don't know how to get them out. We just don't have any equipment, he says. Derna's gone, you won't see it again.
They've gotten some help since. International support has been slowly trickling in but nowhere near enough to deal with a disaster on this scale.
It's mostly Libyans here, volunteers from every corner of this bitterly divided country, foes who fought each other for years, united in grief, doing what they can to mend the wounds of this broken city.
Most are here to try and give the dead a dignified end. It's not the time to lay blame for what happened, many say. But the dams had not been maintained for decades, residents say. Had they been, Derna and its people may still be standing.
Nearly a week on, emotions here still so raw. Tarek and his family climbed on top of the water tanks on their roof. They all survived but most of his neighbors did not.
There are 12 to 15 homes on our street. We lost 33 people, he tells us. He then starts to name the dead. Entire families gone. It's all just too much.
Libyans know loss and death all too well. But nothing could have prepared them for this -- Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, Derna, Libya.
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BRUNHUBER: Kim Jong-un is forging ahead with his visit to Russia's far east. A look at who the leader has been meeting with and what he's expected to do next.
And one year after dying in the custody of morality police, the world remembers Mahsa Amini and the protest movement her death inspired. That story and much more, ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: North Korea's leader is in Vladivostok, Russia, for what's expected to be the last leg of his trip to the country's far east.
Russian state media reports that he toured a frigate from Russia's Pacific fleet with the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, a short time ago. They headed to the ship after visiting an airfield in the port city earlier.
Marc Stewart is following developments in Beijing.
For North Korea's leader, these types of photo-ops are nothing new, right?
MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As we have seen over the last few months, Kim Jong-un really does see value in these photo- ops, especially when it involves world leaders, big figureheads and military hardware.
To give you more detail, he saw military fighter jets, an attack aircraft, a long range passenger plane and a hypersonic missile system. Again, being accompanied by the defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.
Also as far as that visit to the port, he was touring a warship but with a key Russian leader, that being the commander of the Russian Navy. A lot of symbolism behind this visit.
But the alliance building between the two nations, we saw Kim Jong-un in an armored train make this journey from North Korea to Russia. We know, on Wednesday, according to state media, he did meet with Vladimir Putin.
It is interesting to see this alliance building that we are seeing. These are two nations that have isolated themselves and perhaps have needs that each nation can perhaps provide.
North Korea certainly would perhaps like to take advantage of some of Russia's military technology, even simply demands for food. Russia, on the other hand, needs munitions because of the stress from the war in Ukraine.
It is important to point out, though, that these nations are also being watched very closely. There are United Nations resolutions strictly prohibiting this kind of military cooperation and weapons exchange.
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STEWART: The Kremlin has said that it has fully complied with these restrictions but it's certainly drawing the attention from observers around the world and particularly the United States, South Korea as well as Japan.
BRUNHUBER: Well, China as well.
How is China viewing this relationship?
STEWART: It is interesting. North Korea really has two allies around the world, Russia and China. In fact, it was just in July that we saw the leadership of both China as well as from Russia in Pyongyang. They saw a very similar military display as Kim Jong-un saw while in Russia.
It goes to emphasize the isolated trifecta of nations. China has not directly condemned the war from Russia in Ukraine. So these three nations have really isolated themselves. And we have seen them form this kind of alliance, especially since the war in Ukraine.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. Thank you so much, Marc Stewart. We really appreciate it.
China has announced its plans for next week's United Nations' General Assembly. Vice president Han Zheng will lead the country's delegation. President Xi Jinping isn't expected to attend the gathering. Xi also skipped the G20 summit in India.
Meanwhile, President Biden and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be at the UNGA. They will hold talks on the sidelines in their first face to face meeting since Benjamin Netanyahu came back into office.
Fresh off those talks with Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin is looking westward for another ally. The Russian president invited Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko to Sochi after concluding that summit. Russian state media said it was the seventh time this year the two leaders have met.
Russia has been suffering losses recently in Crimea and southern Ukraine. A Ukrainian commander said the devastated village of Andriivka has now been retaken, opening what he said was a bridgehead for Ukraine's counter offensive to advance.
We know that regaining the territory gave Ukrainian troops control of a vital railroad. More on Ukraine's counteroffensive from CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Kyiv.
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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Ukrainian forces on the attack at the crack of dawn. Kyiv says its troops ousted the Russian villages on the eastern front in the past days.
One of the units involved releasing this video purportedly showing one of their drones hitting a Russian vehicle carrying an officer. Ukraine attacking not just on land but from the sea and the air as well.
This video purporting to show unmanned sea drones trying to ram a Russian warship just hours after the Ukrainians say they hit a Russian sub and a landing ship in the key port of Sevastopol as well as a sophisticated surface to air missile system, all in occupied Crimea.
"Thank you for today's triumph," the Ukrainian president says. "The invader's air defense system in the Crimean land was destroyed, very significant, well done."
In occupied Crimea, some residents seem increasingly concerned about Ukraine's attacks both on the peninsula and the bridge that links it to the Russian mainland.
"When it was attacked for the first time, I was worried so much," this man says.
"Nevertheless, Russia is still strong."
And he says, "Times are turbulent now. Of course, I'm worried but, in general, driving over the bridge is OK."
Under pressure, Vladimir Putin continues to court North Korean strongman Kim Jong U.N. Kim visiting a plant that makes Sukhoi fighter jets during his ongoing trip to Russia.
And while the Russians claim no deals have been signed for the North Koreans to provide ammo to Moscow, Putin admits he wants to deepen ties with Pyongyang.
"We have never violated anything and in this instance, we are not going to violate anything," Putin says. "But of course, we will look for opportunities to develop Russian-North Korean relations."
But the Russians also touting their own military industry. Defense minister Sergei Shoigu on a visit to a shipyard for nuclear submarines saying Russia will not only develop new nuclear submarines but underwater drones as well.
While the Russians showcase their strategic weapons manufacturing, their Ukrainians say their forces are the ones with the initiative on almost all battlefronts -- Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Kyiv.
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BRUNHUBER: A group of U.S. senators is pushing the Defense Department to provide information about reports that Elon Musk restricted the use of his Starlink satellites used by Ukrainian armed forces in 2022.
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BRUNHUBER: Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee sent a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It asked for a detailed accounting of any incidents where the services were disabled in Ukraine.
The senators also raised concerns about Musk's decision last year not to turn on the network near Crimea in order to disrupt a Ukrainian attack on Russian starships.
Survivors of the devastating earthquake in Morocco are struggling to recover. One week on, there's some hope amid the heartbreak. We'll have a live report ahead on CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
One week after a devastating earthquake hit Morocco, scores of people are still living without shelter and struggling to get by. International aid has been pouring into the country since the 6.8 quake struck on September 8th.
But it's blocked roads and made some areas unreachable. Nada Bashir has been talking to survivors.
First, what is the latest on the recovery efforts there?.
NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A week on and, although there are still attempts to pull people out from the rubble, there's no hope there are any survivors. It has taken days for rescue teams to reach some of the areas that are up in the Atlas mountains.
That's been a real struggle for these rescue teams. Many of the narrow roads were damaged during the earthquake or obstructed by falling rocks and boulders.
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BASHIR: We experienced this ourselves, trying to make it to a small town in the Atlas Mountains. It took us hours longer than typical because of the blockages in the road.
When we finally reached it, many of the relief workers working on the ground, including medical teams there, who have not only been supporting people with their physical injuries but something that they are deeply concerned about is the emotional trauma, the emotional health of those affected by the earthquake. So we spoke to one doctor in this town.
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DR. KHADLJA ZOUHAIR (through translator): Some of these people have lost their entire families. Children come and tell us that their parents and siblings have died. Sometimes the emotional trauma these people have faced is even worse than their physical injuries.
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BASHIR: There's also a big focus on the housing situation. We have seen these tent villages being set up across the affected areas. We have seen blankets, food, water being distributed.
But this is a process that is going to take months, if not years. There's continued need for support not only from these local organizations who are pitching in but also from the international community.
BRUNHUBER: So many people affected, so many harrowing stories there. But despite all the tragedy all around you, there are stories of hope and survival.
What have people been telling you?
BASHIR: There are countless stories of tragedy. We visited villages that have been almost flattened. Few people we have spoken to have been untouched by death. Many of them have lost loved ones, lost friends.
But we have spoken to people who have those stories of survival. We met with one gentleman, he is the head nurse in this local remote town. He spoke to us about his attempt to rescue his colleague.
She's a midwife. He said he heard her voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed residence for local midwives. And he began pulling her out. Despite all the odds, she was in perfect health.
The next morning, she went on to deliver twins in the middle of the devastated road. So there are these stories of hope. Many people are trying to push ahead with their lives. But there was so much they need.
The government has committed to providing support for these families. They say they are prioritizing buildings and 50,000 homes across five regions. But there's concern of the situation because the winter months are coming. Many villages impacted are higher in the mountains.
It's going to get desperately cold. Those that have lost homes are living in these temporary tents. Those won't suffice in the winter months.
BRUNHUBER: The need so great there. Excellent to have you there, bringing us those stories. Nada Bashir, thank you so much. It's been one year since the death of Mahsa Amini in the custody of
Iran's morality police. Rallies to honor her are planned for today in several international cities. But Iran reportedly tightened security measures ahead of the anniversary.
On Friday, the U.S. and other countries announced a raft of new Iranian sanctions against individuals and entities. Amini's death sparked months of protests, viciously suppressed by Tehran, with hundreds killed and thousands detained.
But one Iranian French actor told CNN, the demonstrations will continue to change the country.
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GOLSHIFTEH FARAHANI, IRANIAN FRENCH ACTOR: The fact that women are not wearing their veil anymore, this is something that Mahsa died for, for not wearing her veil properly. So the fact that these girls are going on the streets, in the airport, everywhere, without wearing it, they are actually playing with their lives.
But they're doing it. So this is how this revolution is continuing. It has changed forms but it has not finished.
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BRUNHUBER: Last hour I spoke with Maziar Bahari, a publisher with the pro reform IranWire news outlet. We discussed the situation inside Iran in recent months. He described the mood on the ground. Here he is.
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MAZIAR BAHARI, PUBLISHER, IRANWIRE: the root causes of the protests, which started last September, have not gone away.
People are still disenchanted with the government's economic policies, with the mismanagement, with corruption, with its draconian dress codes in the country, with the Islamic Republic as a whole, we can say, the government that has been in power since 1979.
So it's very difficult to know what can people do in terms of mobilizing protests, despite the government's efforts to stop them.
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BAHARI: But we know that many businesses around the province of Kurdistan, especially in the city of Saqqez, have gone on a strike. And we can foresee more protests in the other cities in the next few hours as well.
BRUNHUBER: Given what happened last, year I mean, do you fear that these might become violent?
Do you think that there will be widespread violence and repression by the government? BAHARI: Well, the government likes the protests to be violent because that's what they're good at. They know how to suppress protests violently.
We have talked to hundreds of people who have been maimed, who have been shot in the eye and not accidentally. They've been shot in the eye at very close range. And the government wanted last year try to teach people a lesson and knows that, if the opposition becomes more violent, they can also become violent and suppress the protests.
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BRUNHUBER: A Colombian artist sometimes called the Picasso of Latin America has died. Fernando Botero was known for around the world for his full-sized creations. His death at the age of 91 was announced on Friday. Stefano Pozzebon is in Bogota with a look at his life and career.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here we are in front of the museum in central Bogota dedicated to Fernando Botero and to his work.
Inside, behind the door, behind my back, there are some of his most renowned paintings and sculptures but also works from other artists that the master himself purchased across his lifetime and left here on exhibition for -- on public display, for everybody to come and see his private collection as a way to honor his own legacy.
Of course here, on Friday, since the early morning hours of the morning, thousands of Colombians have come to pay their respects. And it's nobody is better than the chief curator of this museum to truly understand what makes Botero unique.
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LAURA ZARTA, CHIEF ART CURATOR, BANK OF THE REPUBLIC: Two of the most important things that have made his work so important is the use of color and the way in which he experimented with volume since the early years of his career.
Throughout that experimentation process and his prolific work, he found a style and that is one of the reasons why, when we see a Botero painting, we know that's his.
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POZZEBON: And, of course, the Colombian president and former president, members of the world of television, entertainment, theater, sports have expressed their condolences. They have paid their respects across Friday.
The city of Medellin (ph), where Botero was born in 1932, declared seven days of public mourning. But there is truly a sense now of an entire nation coming together, to say goodbye to one of its most renowned sons but also to one of its most famous ambassadors, of what it means to be a Colombian around the world -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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BRUNHUBER: With cold and flu season around the corner, there's word that many of the popular remedies you buy over-the-counter aren't really effective. We'll look at the FDA's next move. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER: If you have ever taken a pill for nasal congestion but didn't get much relief, it's not you. Experts at the Food and Drug Administration have now concluded that the active ingredient in many over-the-counter remedies simply don't work when taken orally.
Popular products like Benadryl and Sudafed have been on store shelves for many years and generated almost $2 billion in sales last year. But if the FDA accepts the panel's conclusions, it may require drugmakers to remove the ingredient from their products.
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BRUNHUBER: Jennifer Le is a member of the FDA advisory committee at UC San Diego.
Thank you so much for being here with us. I just want to get this straight.
This drug doesn't work, like not at all?
JENNIFER LE, MEMBER, FDA ADVISORY COMMITTEE, UC SAN DIEGO: Let me first by thanking you for inviting me to share the information that has emerged last week at the FDA advisory committee meeting.
Now this is the oral formulation phenylephrine. And that is a drug in which we reached the data since 2007 that the FDA provided and that the committee, 16 of us, unanimously voted that it does not appear the data to show that the drug is efficacious for nasal congestion.
BRUNHUBER: So the nasal spray works, though the pills that you'd normally take, those ones don't seem to work.
So can it be reformulated?
Or it gets dissolved in the stomach and there's no way to introduce it via pills?
LE: You brought that up. One of the convincing data that corroborated with the three clinical trials conducted of the oral formulation was looking into bioavailability. It's a pharmakinetic parameter (ph) that shows how this drug goes through the body.
And what the FDA reported, this is updated information, is that, once you take the pill, it goes into the stomach. But a lot of it is metabolized to an inactive form. And in fact, the drug itself only gets absorbed at about 1 percent.
So 1 percent actually goes into the blood. And if it goes in the blood, you need it to go into blood to get to the nose, where the site of action is.
BRUNHUBER: These products have been on the shelves for some 50 years. But for decades, there have been warnings that the drug didn't work.
Why do you think it took so long to act?
LE: I think that we have come a long ways in terms of the requirements for a clinical trial. What we required for drug approval 50 years ago was really for safety, then efficacy.
Even in 1972 when there was a cold and cough panel that reviewed this drug, even said that it was not strongly indicative of efficacy. The parameter that we used 50 years ago was different from the parameters we use now to assess efficacy.
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LE: What we used in the recent clinical trials is largely symptom relief. That's actually what consumers want. They want their symptoms relieved.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. I can't remember another drug being taken off the shelves not because it wasn't safe but because it didn't work.
Do you think this is just the first domino?
Will we see more regulatory scrutiny of our medicine cabinet?
LE: I think that, just to let you know, this does not represent the FDA belief or I do not represent the FDA at all. This is my own personal belief.
I think that, especially for drugs that are over the counter, where there's a huge public impact that users can directly get it, I think there should be more robust clinical trials. That's not -- for drugs that we know we question, whether or not it is efficacious.
But yes, you are absolutely correct. This is one of the unique situations where as a unanimous vote and the vote was because it wasn't efficacious. It's usually toxicity.
BRUNHUBER: In the meantime, we have cold and flu season upon us.
We do want to know, what is efficacious?
What does actually work? LE: Well, I'm not an allergist, just to let you know. I'm a pharmacy clinical pharmacologist. And I believe that a lot of what consumers can use really depends on the consumer.
There are nasal antihistamines, there are nasal corticosteroids and oral pseudoephedrine, which is a behind the counter pill. So those are options. But I'm not in the position to make recommendations because it's based on the patient.
Personally for me, this is strictly just for nasal congestion. I can tolerate that. I have a very high tolerance. And these medications are meant for systematic relief. So it's only if you have the symptoms.
BRUNHUBER: These drugs weren't working anyway. So if you just wait and let nature take its course, I guess you're no better off you would have been before. Jennifer Le, really appreciate your expertise. Thanks so much.
LE: Absolutely. Thank you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Still ahead this hour, NFL star Aaron Rodgers speaks out after a season-ending injury. Why he says critics are helping fuel his recovery. That's coming up. Stay with us.
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[05:50:00]
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BRUNHUBER: New York Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers speaks out for the first time since his season-ending Achilles injury. Andy Scholes joins us now to talk about it.
I saw that happen in real time. It was really horrible. But it sounds like he's planning to play again.
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORT CORRESPONDENT: And not only play again, Aaron Rodgers did not rule out coming back to play this season, which is kind of unheard of. Usually when you tear an Achilles, that means you're out for at least a year.
But Rodgers said he didn't want to waste any time. He had his surgery on Wednesday. When talking on a show on ESPN, Rodgers said he would be back sooner than we all think.
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AARON RODGERS, NY JETS QB: So give me your doubts, give me your prognostications and then watch what I do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you trying to say you're coming back this season?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you coming back for the playoffs this year?
RODGERS: I'm not going to make any of those statements. I don't feel like that's fair to myself. I'm just --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is it a possibility?
RODGERS: I think as Kevin Garnett said, anything is possible.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wow. Wow
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: We'll have to certainly wait and see.
To baseball, we had a really scary moment for Anthony Misiewicz. You can see he took 100 mile per hour comebacker right off his head. He stayed on the ground for several minutes. He was able to stand up on his own power and then he was carted off the field.
His manager says he was aware and alert before he was taken to the hospital. But his teammate was shaken up talking about that incident.
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GERRIT COLE, PITCHER, NEW YORK YANKEES: I was sick to my stomach about it. I have been hit in the head on that mound. Not quite like that. But I have seen some other guys get smoked. And you just praying for him really, hoping he comes through all right.
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SCHOLES: We all hope he's OK. The Yankees went on to score 4 runs to win their game, 7-5 and climb out of last place in the AL East.
Elsewhere it appears that the Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani's season is over as his locker in the clubhouse has been mostly cleared out. He's been out for 11 games with an oblique strain after he tore a ligament in his elbow that shut down his pitching for the season.
An official update on his status for the rest of the season is expected later today.
And another big day of college football on tap today. The Colorado Bucs looking for a 3-0 start to their season as they take on their rivals, Colorado State, in a Rocky Mountain showdown. Colorado State coach Jay Norvell taking a shot at Coach Prine (ph) and the way he conducts his interviews.
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COACH JAY NORVELL, COLORADO STATE: I don't care if they hear it in Boulder. I told them, I took my hat off, I took my glasses off and I said, when I talk to grownups, I take my hat and my glasses off. That's what my mother taught me.
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SCHOLES: Coach Sanders heard those comments and wondered why the Rams coach would give his team bulletin board material.
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COACH DEION SANDERS, COLORADO: Why would you want to talk about us when we don't talk about nobody?
All we go out here, work our butts off and do our job on Saturday. But when they give us ammunition, they done made it what?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Personal.
SANDERS: It was just going to be a good game.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And they (INAUDIBLE).
SANDERS: They done messed around and made it personal. It's going to be a great test, a battle of Colorado but they done messed around and made it personal.
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[05:55:00]
SCHOLES: They made it personal now --
(CROSSTALK)
SCHOLES: -- 23-point favorites over Colorado State. Deion Sanders certainly made this college football season a lot more fun.
BRUNHUBER: Absolutely, yes, prime time indeed. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have entered ignition and liftoff, liftoff of Falcon 9 and Starlink 6-16. Go internet satellites V2. Go.
BRUNHUBER (voice-over): And go Elon Musk. SpaceX has put 22 new Starlink satellites into orbit. The company says it launched a couple hours ago from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
SpaceX had 65 liftoffs so far this year. Starlink is meant to provide internet services around the world. The company has more than 4,500 satellites in orbit.
There are three new residents aboard the International Space Station, two Russian cosmonauts and a NASA astronaut arrived a few hours ago. That makes 10 people on the space station right now. Two of them will stay for about a year. Astronaut Loral O'Hara will be
there about six months. Three crew members will return later this month.
IKEA has created a special edition chair for Sweden's king's 50th anniversary on the throne.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): It's an updated version of the Mila chair that originally hit stores in 1967. The new version is embossed with the royal warrant. It was on display in a park in central Stockholm on Friday.
The chair will be presented to the king in recognition of his half century on the actual Swedish throne.
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BRUNHUBER: Hopefully they will put it together for him.
That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "CNN THIS MORNING" is next.
