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CNN Live Saturday

Big Pharma Shells Out Bucks for Ad Blitz; Holiday Travel Deals

Aired December 04, 2004 - 12:30   ET

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

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Checking some stories now in the news, two key players on the war on terror sit down at the White House, President Bush and Pakistan's President Musharraf held talk this is morning. Among the issues on the agenda, the terror battle, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and Pakistan's strained relations with its neighbor, India.
Panama's former leader, Manuel Noriega, is said to be in stable condition at a Miami hospital after he suffered from a mild stroke three days ago. That word from Noriega's attorney. The former dictator has been in a federal prison in Florida since 1992.

Louisiana is putting the finishing touches on election 2004. Runoffs are being held for two U.S. House seats, because no candidate got over 50 percent last month. In both elections, Republican candidates, who finished first, are facing the runners up, both Democrats. In Louisiana's unique election system, all candidates run on one ballot, regardless of party.

Restocking the cabinet. President Bush will keep one of his most trusted members on the job. We're told that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been asked to remain at the Pentagon. President Bush wanted Rumsfeld to stay, despite criticism over the secretary's handling of Iraq.

The president's second term cabinet is changing. Eight of the 15- member Cabinet have said they will depart. Mr. Bush still must name a new head of the Energy Department to succeed Secretary Spencer Abraham.

The president will also need to appoint a new secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned yesterday.

Secretary Thompson says he is leaving to pursue a job in the private sector. Thompson who is 63 has spent nearly 40 years in politics and government. During his tenure, he tackled the anthrax attacks, and the current flu vaccine shortage. Yesterday, he also spoke about his achievements as secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: I do not tender my resignation easily. While these years have been challenging, they have also been greatly rewarding. We touched the third rail of politics, and delivered on our promise to modernize Medicare with prescription drug coverage; the most historic improvement to Medicare since it was created, back in 1965. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Secretary Thompson helped pass the Medicare prescription law last year.

In other health news, pushing pills. Drug companies are marketing their products to consumers with their TV and print ads. As CNNfn's Christine Romans reports, these companies are spending billions in an all-out drug war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Cialis is here. Are you ready?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Drug companies are bypassing doctors and heading straight to patients, or soon-to-be patients, catching them in their living rooms or reading the paper. They advertise happy, satisfied people and consumers like what they see.

GARY RUSKIN, COMMERCIAL ALERT: The ads promote a mindset that every problem can be solved with a little pill. That's not true and it promotes a mindset that I think is really dangerous.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Switch to Crestor, her doctor said.

ROMANS: So-called direct to consumer advertising is up almost 30 percent to record levels this year. Drug companies spent more than $3 billion.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: And you've got to love that.

ROMANS: Pushing pills to be a better lover, lower cholesterol or conquer heartburn.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Ask your doctor today.

ROMANS: That's not counting the hundreds of millions in marketing to doctors and all the free samples. For a drug industry faced with blockbuster drugs losing their patents, selling as many drugs as it can is imperative.

MARCIA ANGELL, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: You have to remember there are more normal people in the United States than there are sick people. If they can convince fairly normal people they have medical conditions that need treatment, they have greatly expanded their markets.

ROMANS: Drug companies say they're making better-informed consumers and helping identify illnesses that might otherwise have gone untreated.

LORI REILLY, PHRMA: What's positive, when someone actually finds out, by seeing an advertisement, that they may, in fact, have that condition, they ask their doctor about it and are hopefully on the right course for getting treated for that condition. ROMANS: Regardless, the Food and Drug Administration have sent a record number of warning letters to drug companies this year, most recently pulling this Viagra off the air for false advertising.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: That guy. He's back. Ask your doctor if Viagra is right for you.

ROMANS (on camera): It's debatable whether drug companies are educating patients. What's not in question, the fact that the doctor/patient relationship has changed forever. It used to be a patient went to the doctor with a list of symptoms. Today they go with a list of brand name prescription drugs. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, let's delve into this a bit more. Joining us from Boston is CNN Headline's medical correspondent and pathologist Dr. Marcia Cohen.

Good to see you Dr. Cohen.

DR. MARCIA COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: There are a couple of ways of looking at all of these ads. On one hand, it seems like the advertisements might be educating a lot of us about the medical options available. The flipside of that is it might be backfiring as well, right? That we're almost becoming a little too overly medicated?

COHEN: Well, I think one of the problems that we have is that there are more treatments out for all of the diseases, supposedly, that we know about, or even upcoming diseases we haven't known about. People want to be treated for them and they want to have medications that will help them.

Of course, if the drug companies are advertising and saying, look we could help you with this problem, this drug will solve your problem as you have just seen the videos before, people are going to run to their doctor and say, look, I have this problem. Please give me this drug.

WHITFIELD: But do you see the advantage that perhaps it might open up some dialogue between patient and doctor to ask some of these questions that, hey, the ad promised me this. Is this applicable to me? Will this happen? Will this rosy picture be in my future?

COHEN: Well, I think it does open up a dialogue with the doctor. What it says is let's talk about what the problem is, and maybe this drug is right for you. Maybe it isn't.

One of the things that is also a down side is that there's pressure by these drug companies for you to buy that drug, but, in fact, there may be a drug just as good that's cheaper and has actually a track record so that we know that that drug is effective. So, there's ups and downs. It certainly does open the chance for the doctor and the patient to talk to each other. Of course, that's very important.

WHITFIELD: It's a free market. Likely, you're going to see a lot more ads on the way. Do you see that perhaps waiting in the wings might be some sort of federal regulation to try to police or restrict some of the promises being made by these drug companies? Just as we saw with Viagra, for example. That was pulled off the air.

COHEN: OK. Well, that's interesting, because Viagra is also termed by some of us in the industry as a convenience drug. What that means is the drug does have effect for certain people with certain problems and it's a very good drug for them.

There are a lot of people who are buying that drug even over the Internet because they think it is just going to enhance what they already have. So, therefore, that type of advertising is very, very effective for the drug companies to make a lot of money and people will go to their doctors, ask for that prescription. And if they don't get it they'll order the drug over the Internet.

WHITFIELD: What's your best advice to patients seeing these ads?

COHEN: I think the best advice is this. Advertising wants you to buy something, whether it's a car or whether it's a drug. So, what you have to remember when you go to your doctor is that you've got to get the drug that's right for you.

You have to discuss it with your doctor, because you may be taking other medications that could interfere with that drug. Keep in mind that what's advertised is not necessarily the cure-all for you.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Marcia Cohen, thanks so much for joining us from Boston.

COHEN: Yes. Take care. Have a good weekend.

WHITFIELD: OK. Have a good holiday.

Baseball fans brace themselves for more fallout as the steroid scandal heats up. We'll have this week's developments.

From kayaking in Costa Rica, to hitting high tea in London. Some last minute holiday deals for those of you who just have to get out of town this holiday season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Returning now to the steroid scandal rocking the sports world. Olympic track star Marion Jones and San Francisco Giants' slugger Barry Bonds are just two of the prominent athletes caught up in the scandal.

CNN's Sports Correspondent Michelle Bonner is keeping track of the latest developments in this story. And not to mention Jason Giambi as well. Let's talk about Marion Jones, however, first. With more recently Balco's Victor Conte saying he knows firsthand, because he is a witness to her drug use.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This is what he is saying. It turns out to be a he said, she said type thing where Marion Jones has always maintained she has never, ever, ever used performance enhancing drugs.

Victor Conte went on ABC's "20/20" last night and said, well, guess what, not only did I have Marion Jones on a performance enhancing drug schedule, and they showed a calendar, with his writing with initials for all these particular drugs, but he said he showed her how to inject herself with the steroids and actually physically himself watched her.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, is this the kind of evidence -- or is this evidence enough to potentially strip her of her gold medals?

BONNER: I suppose for any legal case, this is all circumstantial to some degree. They don't have a positive drug test. What the anti- doping agency and possibly other agencies like the IOC, are going to have to come together and look at all of this. I mean, this Balco thing is far from being over. Perhaps what comes out even later, in terms of his trial, which is set to begin, I believe next summer, Victor Conte's trial, what comes out later may be able to be used against her.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Interesting similarities, with Barry Bond and Jason Giambi. They said publicly one thing. And now, grand jury testimony reveals something else now. The Yankees are trying to come down on Giambi for either giving up some of his money or they won't pay him some of the promised money. Might the same be happening for the San Francisco team?

BONNER: Absolutely not. The difference in Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, according to this grand jury testimony, has said, yes, I used illegal substances, substances Major League Baseball has said you cannot use.

Barry bonds has not admitted to any wrong doing. He said in the grand jury testimony that he used a clear substance and a cream-like substance. He says, I believe those to be flaxseed oil, which is like an Omega 3 fatty acid-type oil, and arthritic rubbing cream. That's the difference.

He never said I believed them to be steroids. He is not even admitting they were steroids. He is saying I used a cream and clear- like substance.

WHITFIELD: And that is his story, and that is his attorney's story, that is the story that they are sticking with?

BONNER: Exactly. And the Giants aren't going to do anything. This is their meal ticket. This is the guy about to break Hank Aaron's home run record, 755 home runs, sometime next season. WHITFIELD: But then you wonder, if indeed that does happen, will that be respected? Will fans honor that? Will the sports world honor that? There will always be some question, weren't there?

BONNER: It remains to be seen. Everyone is talking about whether there should a little asterisk next to Barry Bonds for the home run record. Essentially, so far, and if he breaks Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755. And I'm talking about the home-run record in a single season.

You know, they're not going to do that. Drug testing in Major League Baseball only became prominent in 2002. You have got Garry Sheffield (ph), of the New York Yankees, also coming out and saying, I lived with Barry Bonds for a while and through his personal trainer and friend Greg Anderson, I, too, used a clear-like substance and a cream.

WHITFIELD: So disappointing.

BONNER: And telling this in the grand jury testimony, but the Yankees aren't going to do anything to Gary Sheffield.

WHITFIELD: Wow. It is so disappointing. It's not just baseball. This is something that really is...

BONNER: It's widespread.

WHITFIELD: touching all professional sports.

BONNER: Victor Conte on ABC's "20/20" last night, said we're just making it a fair playing ground. Marion Jones was only doing what all these other Olympic athletes are doing as well. Kelly White, who has been banned for two years, she was stripped of her gold medals, they said that they gave it to the second place and third place finishers who also tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michelle Bonner, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Well in other news across America. A Miami area neighborhood awakens to this plane crash. This Convair cargo plane slammed into a lake near a high-rise condo building this morning. Police say the pilot and copilot left the plain safely and no one on the ground, or in those boats nearby, were hurt.

Facing trail, an accused drug kingpin is in a Miami jail cell this afternoon, after a flight from Columbia overnight. U.S. officials say, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, was at one time responsible for at least 50 percent of the cocaine shipped into the United States. Orejuela has his first court appearance on Monday.

In Houston, Texas, an explosion set off this huge fire at a chemical plant. Authorities say the explosion could be felt nearly 25 miles away. Two fire fighters suffered minor injuries. Five people near the plant were hospitalized for minor injuries. Federal investigators are looking into the matter. The cost of cleaning up. It could take $280 billion and up to 35 years to clean the nation's existing and undiscovered hazardous waste sites. That's according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. The EPA stresses the numbers are only estimates.

Well, sometimes good things do come to those who wait. We'll uncover last minute holiday travel deals for all those procrastinators out there who just got to get away.

Later, we'll meet football players whose combat on the field is far from the last combat they'll be seeing. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It seems hard to believe but it is not too late for a holiday travel deal out there. "National Geographic Explorer" A list scours for trips that aren't budget busters. The A, by the way, stands for affordable. You can log on to the magazine's web site every Tuesday for the best deals. Keith Bellows is "National Geographic Explorer" editor-in-chief. He joins us in our Washington bureau today.

Good to see you, Keith.

KEITH BELLOWS, "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER": Hi there.

WHITFIELD: Are we talking about some really great impressive deal out there for Christmas ...

BELLOWS: We are talking some great deals. We have 19 deals. I just pulled them off our web site. It goes from everything from an exclusive deal for "National Geographic Traveler" readers, 50 percent off to go kayaking in Costa Rica.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

BELLOWS: Which if you are a little adventurous, that is a great thing to do. If you want something that is a little more pampering, spend Christmas in London. You can do that less than $800 per couple. They throw in stocking stuffers, three-course meal, couple bottles of wine and, of course, your hotel room and air fare.

WHITFIELD: So, these kinds of deals might be crafted, buy an entire package? We're not talking about just the air fare, or trying to do all this travel a la carte. These are great packages you're suggesting?

BELLOWS: These are great packages, but you can do it a la carte. Because a lot of the airlines, for instance, United has deals where you can go places numerable places, worldwide for less than $200 return. American and Continental are doing the same thing domestically.

They're really trying to get you on the road. Part of the reason for this that we're all a little worried the dollar is dropping. If you're talking about Europe, when you get there, it could conceivably be more expensive. But, boy, when you factor in the airline deals they're giving you -- it's a great deal.

WHITFIELD: Pretty good. All right, before we go to Europe, let's talk a little bit domestically. Apparently there's some great bed & breakfasts and inns in New Hampshire you all recommend. Why is that a great place to spend the holidays? Besides it is snowy and wintry?

BELLOWS: Exactly. But New Hampshire is not someplace you would naturally think of. It's a great place to get away from the family. If you're a skier, it is a great place, even if you just want to sit around and be by the fire, New Hampshire is a terrific place. It's not too far from New York or from Boston. It's a pretty affordable get away.

WHITFIELD: All right. Some other nice wintry wonderlands in Europe, kind of go Nordic. These are some hot spots at a very cool time of year.

BELLOWS: Finland happens to be one of our prime picks. It's a place nobody thinks of. Iceland is another place. These are places really discounted because, let's face it, when we're sitting here at home with the home fires on, we're not exactly thinking about getting away, going to someplace cold. This is the time to do it.

WHITFIELD: Denmark, another place?

BELLOWS: Denmark is another place. And even closer to home. You have Montreal, where you can go spend a couple of days in Montreal. You have the benefit of the Canadian dollar. Same thing with Victoria, in British Columbia. You have deals out there.

WHITFIELD: Not just Europe then, really kind of worldwide a lot of good deals out there. You recommend that there are some airlines, such as American, United and even Northwest who have some particularly great, low-budget deals, right?

BELLOWS: Unbelievable. If you want to go from say, Dallas to Montreal, you could do it for less than $200. You have just have to pick your cities. Go on line. They're out there for you to snag the deals. If you go to our web site, you'll find them there, too.

WHITFIELD: All right, Keith Bellows, "National Geographic Traveler". Thank you so much.

BELLOWS: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Happy holidays.

BELLOWS: You, too.

WHITFIELD: A long-time college football rivalry made more poignant in this very time of war. A look at today's Army/Navy game, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: President Bush will attend the Army/Navy football game today in Philadelphia. The battle is one of the oldest and most intense gridiron rivalries in college football. For 77 seniors on the two combined teams, the big game is a last fling of sorts, the duties of a nation call.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON POLANCO, NAVY QUARTERBACK: A football game is a battle.

I mean, you're leading men just as you would out in the fleet or Marine Corps. It's the same concept. It's not nearly the same, you know, surroundings, but it's the same concepts in terms of leadership.

CAPT. GREG COOPER, U.S. NAVY: Whether you fly airplanes, operate ships or submarines, all those things you learn on the playing field help you make a better leader. These young men when they leave the football team and graduate, they're not going to the NFL; they're going off to be Marine second lieutenants, or in the Navy ensigns, leading troops and sailors.

I want to be a SEAL. Guys on the SEAL teams and SEAL community are hard nosed, determined, focused individuals. That's what I'm used to working with, being a Navy football player. That's exactly the kind of people I play with on Saturdays.

My freshman year, 9/11 occurred, but as soon as it happened, I'm looking on TV and I said, well, I'm going to war. Time is ticking away until I get there. I'm a senior now. It will be less than a year.

When it comes to going to war, I have to say part of me is anxious. Part of me definitely doesn't want to go. Who wants to go to war?

PAUL JOHNSON, NAVY HEAD COACH: I think it hits home when you hear about another casualty in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Staff. March. March.

JOHNSON: You look to see, hey, do I know that guy. It's something you can't dwell on every day. I think you have to go on about your life and know it's a part of what's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready, set, go.

WILL SULLIVAN, ARMY DEFENSIVE TACKLE: Coach Ross, after every practice, reminds us what's going on. He reads us e-mails. And tells us stories about when he was in Germany as a young lieutenant.

BOBBY ROSS, ARMY FOOTBALL COACH: Sir, from Baghdad, Iraq, and Task Force Steel Dragons, I send my profound thank you to Coach Ross and the Army team for the victory in Army football. The members of a long gray line, currently serving in combat really, really needed this Army victory.

Please extend my sincere compliments to the members of the Army football team and have mercy on the corps for the goal post.

I do it, because it serves as a constant reminder to me that we almost have an obligation to win.

And in going further, we certainly have an obligation to play hard and to play as well as we possibly can; and to play with spirit and to play with intensity. We have that obligation, because we are symbolic, in my mind, of the United States Army troops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just the small world. We're reaching out to everybody worldwide, fighting for us just to have this ability to play the game that we love. It means so much to them, so it means a lot to us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com


Aired December 4, 2004 - 12:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Checking some stories now in the news, two key players on the war on terror sit down at the White House, President Bush and Pakistan's President Musharraf held talk this is morning. Among the issues on the agenda, the terror battle, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and Pakistan's strained relations with its neighbor, India.
Panama's former leader, Manuel Noriega, is said to be in stable condition at a Miami hospital after he suffered from a mild stroke three days ago. That word from Noriega's attorney. The former dictator has been in a federal prison in Florida since 1992.

Louisiana is putting the finishing touches on election 2004. Runoffs are being held for two U.S. House seats, because no candidate got over 50 percent last month. In both elections, Republican candidates, who finished first, are facing the runners up, both Democrats. In Louisiana's unique election system, all candidates run on one ballot, regardless of party.

Restocking the cabinet. President Bush will keep one of his most trusted members on the job. We're told that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has been asked to remain at the Pentagon. President Bush wanted Rumsfeld to stay, despite criticism over the secretary's handling of Iraq.

The president's second term cabinet is changing. Eight of the 15- member Cabinet have said they will depart. Mr. Bush still must name a new head of the Energy Department to succeed Secretary Spencer Abraham.

The president will also need to appoint a new secretary of Health and Human Services. Secretary Tommy Thompson resigned yesterday.

Secretary Thompson says he is leaving to pursue a job in the private sector. Thompson who is 63 has spent nearly 40 years in politics and government. During his tenure, he tackled the anthrax attacks, and the current flu vaccine shortage. Yesterday, he also spoke about his achievements as secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOMMY THOMPSON, SECRETARY, HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES: I do not tender my resignation easily. While these years have been challenging, they have also been greatly rewarding. We touched the third rail of politics, and delivered on our promise to modernize Medicare with prescription drug coverage; the most historic improvement to Medicare since it was created, back in 1965. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Secretary Thompson helped pass the Medicare prescription law last year.

In other health news, pushing pills. Drug companies are marketing their products to consumers with their TV and print ads. As CNNfn's Christine Romans reports, these companies are spending billions in an all-out drug war.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Cialis is here. Are you ready?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNNfn CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Drug companies are bypassing doctors and heading straight to patients, or soon-to-be patients, catching them in their living rooms or reading the paper. They advertise happy, satisfied people and consumers like what they see.

GARY RUSKIN, COMMERCIAL ALERT: The ads promote a mindset that every problem can be solved with a little pill. That's not true and it promotes a mindset that I think is really dangerous.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Switch to Crestor, her doctor said.

ROMANS: So-called direct to consumer advertising is up almost 30 percent to record levels this year. Drug companies spent more than $3 billion.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: And you've got to love that.

ROMANS: Pushing pills to be a better lover, lower cholesterol or conquer heartburn.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: Ask your doctor today.

ROMANS: That's not counting the hundreds of millions in marketing to doctors and all the free samples. For a drug industry faced with blockbuster drugs losing their patents, selling as many drugs as it can is imperative.

MARCIA ANGELL, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL: You have to remember there are more normal people in the United States than there are sick people. If they can convince fairly normal people they have medical conditions that need treatment, they have greatly expanded their markets.

ROMANS: Drug companies say they're making better-informed consumers and helping identify illnesses that might otherwise have gone untreated.

LORI REILLY, PHRMA: What's positive, when someone actually finds out, by seeing an advertisement, that they may, in fact, have that condition, they ask their doctor about it and are hopefully on the right course for getting treated for that condition. ROMANS: Regardless, the Food and Drug Administration have sent a record number of warning letters to drug companies this year, most recently pulling this Viagra off the air for false advertising.

COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCER: That guy. He's back. Ask your doctor if Viagra is right for you.

ROMANS (on camera): It's debatable whether drug companies are educating patients. What's not in question, the fact that the doctor/patient relationship has changed forever. It used to be a patient went to the doctor with a list of symptoms. Today they go with a list of brand name prescription drugs. Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Well, let's delve into this a bit more. Joining us from Boston is CNN Headline's medical correspondent and pathologist Dr. Marcia Cohen.

Good to see you Dr. Cohen.

DR. MARCIA COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: There are a couple of ways of looking at all of these ads. On one hand, it seems like the advertisements might be educating a lot of us about the medical options available. The flipside of that is it might be backfiring as well, right? That we're almost becoming a little too overly medicated?

COHEN: Well, I think one of the problems that we have is that there are more treatments out for all of the diseases, supposedly, that we know about, or even upcoming diseases we haven't known about. People want to be treated for them and they want to have medications that will help them.

Of course, if the drug companies are advertising and saying, look we could help you with this problem, this drug will solve your problem as you have just seen the videos before, people are going to run to their doctor and say, look, I have this problem. Please give me this drug.

WHITFIELD: But do you see the advantage that perhaps it might open up some dialogue between patient and doctor to ask some of these questions that, hey, the ad promised me this. Is this applicable to me? Will this happen? Will this rosy picture be in my future?

COHEN: Well, I think it does open up a dialogue with the doctor. What it says is let's talk about what the problem is, and maybe this drug is right for you. Maybe it isn't.

One of the things that is also a down side is that there's pressure by these drug companies for you to buy that drug, but, in fact, there may be a drug just as good that's cheaper and has actually a track record so that we know that that drug is effective. So, there's ups and downs. It certainly does open the chance for the doctor and the patient to talk to each other. Of course, that's very important.

WHITFIELD: It's a free market. Likely, you're going to see a lot more ads on the way. Do you see that perhaps waiting in the wings might be some sort of federal regulation to try to police or restrict some of the promises being made by these drug companies? Just as we saw with Viagra, for example. That was pulled off the air.

COHEN: OK. Well, that's interesting, because Viagra is also termed by some of us in the industry as a convenience drug. What that means is the drug does have effect for certain people with certain problems and it's a very good drug for them.

There are a lot of people who are buying that drug even over the Internet because they think it is just going to enhance what they already have. So, therefore, that type of advertising is very, very effective for the drug companies to make a lot of money and people will go to their doctors, ask for that prescription. And if they don't get it they'll order the drug over the Internet.

WHITFIELD: What's your best advice to patients seeing these ads?

COHEN: I think the best advice is this. Advertising wants you to buy something, whether it's a car or whether it's a drug. So, what you have to remember when you go to your doctor is that you've got to get the drug that's right for you.

You have to discuss it with your doctor, because you may be taking other medications that could interfere with that drug. Keep in mind that what's advertised is not necessarily the cure-all for you.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Marcia Cohen, thanks so much for joining us from Boston.

COHEN: Yes. Take care. Have a good weekend.

WHITFIELD: OK. Have a good holiday.

Baseball fans brace themselves for more fallout as the steroid scandal heats up. We'll have this week's developments.

From kayaking in Costa Rica, to hitting high tea in London. Some last minute holiday deals for those of you who just have to get out of town this holiday season.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Returning now to the steroid scandal rocking the sports world. Olympic track star Marion Jones and San Francisco Giants' slugger Barry Bonds are just two of the prominent athletes caught up in the scandal.

CNN's Sports Correspondent Michelle Bonner is keeping track of the latest developments in this story. And not to mention Jason Giambi as well. Let's talk about Marion Jones, however, first. With more recently Balco's Victor Conte saying he knows firsthand, because he is a witness to her drug use.

MICHELLE BONNER, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: This is what he is saying. It turns out to be a he said, she said type thing where Marion Jones has always maintained she has never, ever, ever used performance enhancing drugs.

Victor Conte went on ABC's "20/20" last night and said, well, guess what, not only did I have Marion Jones on a performance enhancing drug schedule, and they showed a calendar, with his writing with initials for all these particular drugs, but he said he showed her how to inject herself with the steroids and actually physically himself watched her.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So, is this the kind of evidence -- or is this evidence enough to potentially strip her of her gold medals?

BONNER: I suppose for any legal case, this is all circumstantial to some degree. They don't have a positive drug test. What the anti- doping agency and possibly other agencies like the IOC, are going to have to come together and look at all of this. I mean, this Balco thing is far from being over. Perhaps what comes out even later, in terms of his trial, which is set to begin, I believe next summer, Victor Conte's trial, what comes out later may be able to be used against her.

WHITFIELD: Wow! Interesting similarities, with Barry Bond and Jason Giambi. They said publicly one thing. And now, grand jury testimony reveals something else now. The Yankees are trying to come down on Giambi for either giving up some of his money or they won't pay him some of the promised money. Might the same be happening for the San Francisco team?

BONNER: Absolutely not. The difference in Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi, according to this grand jury testimony, has said, yes, I used illegal substances, substances Major League Baseball has said you cannot use.

Barry bonds has not admitted to any wrong doing. He said in the grand jury testimony that he used a clear substance and a cream-like substance. He says, I believe those to be flaxseed oil, which is like an Omega 3 fatty acid-type oil, and arthritic rubbing cream. That's the difference.

He never said I believed them to be steroids. He is not even admitting they were steroids. He is saying I used a cream and clear- like substance.

WHITFIELD: And that is his story, and that is his attorney's story, that is the story that they are sticking with?

BONNER: Exactly. And the Giants aren't going to do anything. This is their meal ticket. This is the guy about to break Hank Aaron's home run record, 755 home runs, sometime next season. WHITFIELD: But then you wonder, if indeed that does happen, will that be respected? Will fans honor that? Will the sports world honor that? There will always be some question, weren't there?

BONNER: It remains to be seen. Everyone is talking about whether there should a little asterisk next to Barry Bonds for the home run record. Essentially, so far, and if he breaks Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755. And I'm talking about the home-run record in a single season.

You know, they're not going to do that. Drug testing in Major League Baseball only became prominent in 2002. You have got Garry Sheffield (ph), of the New York Yankees, also coming out and saying, I lived with Barry Bonds for a while and through his personal trainer and friend Greg Anderson, I, too, used a clear-like substance and a cream.

WHITFIELD: So disappointing.

BONNER: And telling this in the grand jury testimony, but the Yankees aren't going to do anything to Gary Sheffield.

WHITFIELD: Wow. It is so disappointing. It's not just baseball. This is something that really is...

BONNER: It's widespread.

WHITFIELD: touching all professional sports.

BONNER: Victor Conte on ABC's "20/20" last night, said we're just making it a fair playing ground. Marion Jones was only doing what all these other Olympic athletes are doing as well. Kelly White, who has been banned for two years, she was stripped of her gold medals, they said that they gave it to the second place and third place finishers who also tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.

WHITFIELD: All right, Michelle Bonner, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

Well in other news across America. A Miami area neighborhood awakens to this plane crash. This Convair cargo plane slammed into a lake near a high-rise condo building this morning. Police say the pilot and copilot left the plain safely and no one on the ground, or in those boats nearby, were hurt.

Facing trail, an accused drug kingpin is in a Miami jail cell this afternoon, after a flight from Columbia overnight. U.S. officials say, Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, was at one time responsible for at least 50 percent of the cocaine shipped into the United States. Orejuela has his first court appearance on Monday.

In Houston, Texas, an explosion set off this huge fire at a chemical plant. Authorities say the explosion could be felt nearly 25 miles away. Two fire fighters suffered minor injuries. Five people near the plant were hospitalized for minor injuries. Federal investigators are looking into the matter. The cost of cleaning up. It could take $280 billion and up to 35 years to clean the nation's existing and undiscovered hazardous waste sites. That's according to an Environmental Protection Agency report. The EPA stresses the numbers are only estimates.

Well, sometimes good things do come to those who wait. We'll uncover last minute holiday travel deals for all those procrastinators out there who just got to get away.

Later, we'll meet football players whose combat on the field is far from the last combat they'll be seeing. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: It seems hard to believe but it is not too late for a holiday travel deal out there. "National Geographic Explorer" A list scours for trips that aren't budget busters. The A, by the way, stands for affordable. You can log on to the magazine's web site every Tuesday for the best deals. Keith Bellows is "National Geographic Explorer" editor-in-chief. He joins us in our Washington bureau today.

Good to see you, Keith.

KEITH BELLOWS, "NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXPLORER": Hi there.

WHITFIELD: Are we talking about some really great impressive deal out there for Christmas ...

BELLOWS: We are talking some great deals. We have 19 deals. I just pulled them off our web site. It goes from everything from an exclusive deal for "National Geographic Traveler" readers, 50 percent off to go kayaking in Costa Rica.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

BELLOWS: Which if you are a little adventurous, that is a great thing to do. If you want something that is a little more pampering, spend Christmas in London. You can do that less than $800 per couple. They throw in stocking stuffers, three-course meal, couple bottles of wine and, of course, your hotel room and air fare.

WHITFIELD: So, these kinds of deals might be crafted, buy an entire package? We're not talking about just the air fare, or trying to do all this travel a la carte. These are great packages you're suggesting?

BELLOWS: These are great packages, but you can do it a la carte. Because a lot of the airlines, for instance, United has deals where you can go places numerable places, worldwide for less than $200 return. American and Continental are doing the same thing domestically.

They're really trying to get you on the road. Part of the reason for this that we're all a little worried the dollar is dropping. If you're talking about Europe, when you get there, it could conceivably be more expensive. But, boy, when you factor in the airline deals they're giving you -- it's a great deal.

WHITFIELD: Pretty good. All right, before we go to Europe, let's talk a little bit domestically. Apparently there's some great bed & breakfasts and inns in New Hampshire you all recommend. Why is that a great place to spend the holidays? Besides it is snowy and wintry?

BELLOWS: Exactly. But New Hampshire is not someplace you would naturally think of. It's a great place to get away from the family. If you're a skier, it is a great place, even if you just want to sit around and be by the fire, New Hampshire is a terrific place. It's not too far from New York or from Boston. It's a pretty affordable get away.

WHITFIELD: All right. Some other nice wintry wonderlands in Europe, kind of go Nordic. These are some hot spots at a very cool time of year.

BELLOWS: Finland happens to be one of our prime picks. It's a place nobody thinks of. Iceland is another place. These are places really discounted because, let's face it, when we're sitting here at home with the home fires on, we're not exactly thinking about getting away, going to someplace cold. This is the time to do it.

WHITFIELD: Denmark, another place?

BELLOWS: Denmark is another place. And even closer to home. You have Montreal, where you can go spend a couple of days in Montreal. You have the benefit of the Canadian dollar. Same thing with Victoria, in British Columbia. You have deals out there.

WHITFIELD: Not just Europe then, really kind of worldwide a lot of good deals out there. You recommend that there are some airlines, such as American, United and even Northwest who have some particularly great, low-budget deals, right?

BELLOWS: Unbelievable. If you want to go from say, Dallas to Montreal, you could do it for less than $200. You have just have to pick your cities. Go on line. They're out there for you to snag the deals. If you go to our web site, you'll find them there, too.

WHITFIELD: All right, Keith Bellows, "National Geographic Traveler". Thank you so much.

BELLOWS: My pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Happy holidays.

BELLOWS: You, too.

WHITFIELD: A long-time college football rivalry made more poignant in this very time of war. A look at today's Army/Navy game, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: President Bush will attend the Army/Navy football game today in Philadelphia. The battle is one of the oldest and most intense gridiron rivalries in college football. For 77 seniors on the two combined teams, the big game is a last fling of sorts, the duties of a nation call.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AARON POLANCO, NAVY QUARTERBACK: A football game is a battle.

I mean, you're leading men just as you would out in the fleet or Marine Corps. It's the same concept. It's not nearly the same, you know, surroundings, but it's the same concepts in terms of leadership.

CAPT. GREG COOPER, U.S. NAVY: Whether you fly airplanes, operate ships or submarines, all those things you learn on the playing field help you make a better leader. These young men when they leave the football team and graduate, they're not going to the NFL; they're going off to be Marine second lieutenants, or in the Navy ensigns, leading troops and sailors.

I want to be a SEAL. Guys on the SEAL teams and SEAL community are hard nosed, determined, focused individuals. That's what I'm used to working with, being a Navy football player. That's exactly the kind of people I play with on Saturdays.

My freshman year, 9/11 occurred, but as soon as it happened, I'm looking on TV and I said, well, I'm going to war. Time is ticking away until I get there. I'm a senior now. It will be less than a year.

When it comes to going to war, I have to say part of me is anxious. Part of me definitely doesn't want to go. Who wants to go to war?

PAUL JOHNSON, NAVY HEAD COACH: I think it hits home when you hear about another casualty in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Staff. March. March.

JOHNSON: You look to see, hey, do I know that guy. It's something you can't dwell on every day. I think you have to go on about your life and know it's a part of what's going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ready, set, go.

WILL SULLIVAN, ARMY DEFENSIVE TACKLE: Coach Ross, after every practice, reminds us what's going on. He reads us e-mails. And tells us stories about when he was in Germany as a young lieutenant.

BOBBY ROSS, ARMY FOOTBALL COACH: Sir, from Baghdad, Iraq, and Task Force Steel Dragons, I send my profound thank you to Coach Ross and the Army team for the victory in Army football. The members of a long gray line, currently serving in combat really, really needed this Army victory.

Please extend my sincere compliments to the members of the Army football team and have mercy on the corps for the goal post.

I do it, because it serves as a constant reminder to me that we almost have an obligation to win.

And in going further, we certainly have an obligation to play hard and to play as well as we possibly can; and to play with spirit and to play with intensity. We have that obligation, because we are symbolic, in my mind, of the United States Army troops.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not just the small world. We're reaching out to everybody worldwide, fighting for us just to have this ability to play the game that we love. It means so much to them, so it means a lot to us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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