Return to Transcripts main page
Live From...
Supreme Court to Hear Argument on Lethal Injection; Despite New Video, U.S. Denies Striking Wedding Party; Coalition Takes over al- Sadr's Mosque; Vitamin Waters Fail to Deliver; Historic British Estate for Sale
Aired May 24, 2004 - 14:30 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.
DREW GRIFFIN, ANCHOR: We welcome you back with the CNN center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM. I'm Drew Griffin.
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's new this half hour.
Making the case: the Supreme Court allowing a Death Row inmate to argue against lethal injection.
Moving in, U.S. forces raid a mosque in Iraq and make an unholy discovery inside.
GRIFFIN: And call the realtor, the stately British estate you've had your eye on is finally up for sale. Realtors say this is a steal, the price tag? Just $85 million.
Before you make an offer, here are the top stories we are following for you at this time.
More than five decades since the Korean War, possible Americans missing in action are coming home.
The Defense Department says 19 sets of remains believed to be those of American soldiers missing in action from that war have been recovered. The remains will arrive in Seoul on Wednesday.
New U.S. allegations are coming out against Ahmed Chalabi, a trusted Iraqi ally among some in official Washington. U.S. officials say they believe Chalabi may have given intelligence to Iran and that information was about more than just Iraq.
Chalabi, a member of Iraq's governing council, denies betraying the U.S. An FBI probe now underway.
A sergeant's sleepiness during his murder trial is the focus of a hearing today. Sergeant Hassan Akbar is charged with killing two soldier in a grenade attack in Kuwait.
A military prosecutor says Akbar will be sent to Kentucky for a sleep study to check out his inability to stay awake in court.
To legal news now. The Supreme Court's decision to hear the case of a man on Death Row. An Alabama prisoner claims his execution by lethal injection would be cruel and unusual punishment. Sean Callebs is in Washington with more on why that is -- Sean
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Drew.
In this unanimous ruling today, the high court saying that a Death Row inmate may challenge execution procedures in Alabama under federal civil rights law, contending that in his case, lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.
The reason here, David Larry Nelson claimed his veins were damaged by years of drug abuse. Doctors told the Supreme Court justices that, if done improperly, lethal injection could cause Nelson to hemorrhage and suffer heart problems before the lethal cocktail does its job.
Nelson's legal counsel says his veins are so damaged it is impossible to insert an intravenous line without cutting deep into flesh and muscle.
He was only three hours from execution before the Supreme Court halted his execution last fall, and that is at the heart of this matter. The court is using Nelson's appeal to decide a technical question: should last minute appeals from Death Row inmates make their way to the federal appeals court?
Alabama attorneys say no. They contend it was simply too late to stop a scheduled lethal injection. Nelson has been on Death Row 20 years. Alabama officials it's a microcosm of the judicial system bogged down by appeals.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the court, says Nelson should be allowed to pursue his case -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Sean, what are the concerns that this could stop all executions, at least until the Supreme Court makes a decision in this case? Many states use lethal injection as their method.
GRIFFIN: Without question. That was rally at the heart of this -- of this challenge. And indeed, the Supreme Court says, basically, that simply is not going to happen.
They say that this is a simple challenge to one method, that it will not open up the floodgates to other challenges. However, that's exactly what the Alabama attorneys were contending.
O'Connor says the ruling, however, is very narrow. And she says that Nelson should be allowed to argue why in his case, because of his veins, lethal injection would be harsh.
The high court says Nelson's case focuses on this so called cut- down procedure and will not challenge lethal injection overall. However, Nelson's appeal has prompted legal challenges to the various drug cocktails used in other states.
Drew, right now lethal injection is now available in 37 states.
GRIFFIN: Sean, thank you for that report from Washington -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: New allegations of excessive force in Iraq.
Iraqis released a home video today of a wedding party that they allege coalition forces attacked last week. The coalition commanders deny it. They say the bombed a nest of foreign fighters.
Our Barbara Starr is sorting out the details at the Pentagon -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the details, very difficult to sort out at this point. Was it a wedding party; was it a foreign fighters' safe house?
As you say, more video. Now, we have already seen this aftermath video from last week, people moving through the rubble. We don't know where this was taken. Pictures of children being buried. We don't know where or when this video was actually taken.
But today there was additional video from the area of a wedding party, by all accounts. You see a bride moving into a truck here, a vehicle in the background. People celebrating. But again, no direct word, no confirmation on where and when this video was taken.
So what happened? At the briefing in Baghdad, there was a virtual slide show of what the coalition said was material that it recovered from the place it attacked, which it said was a foreign fighters' safe house. Drug paraphernalia, weapons, money, medical equipment, all of that sort of thing.
They said in the coalition -- from the coalition's point of view, this was a demonstration this was a safe house which was outfitted with sleeping quarters for hundreds of people.
But still, Iraqis and the coalition having two very different points of view.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I swear to God there was a wedding. I swear to God there were no weapons. I swear to God we did not fire one bullet.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: But we understand that there are inconsistencies.
But I would tell you that, again, day after day after day as we continue to get more evidence in, as we continue to get more new evidence coming in, it is -- it is pretty clear to us that what happened that night, from the -- about after midnight until at 0400, that the activities that we saw happening on the ground were somewhat inconsistent with a wedding party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But General Kimmitt, Kyra, going on to say that the coalition will continue to investigate the matter -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Real quickly, Barbara, the heads-up display, the HUD video from the U.S. military aircraft, could that be released?
STARR: At the moment officials are saying no. That will continue to be classified and not released.
However, generally described as showing a warehouse or set of warehouses that were attacked from the air by the United States based on intelligence it says it had that it was a group of foreign fighters meeting here, foreign fighters which have been assembling and conducting attacks against the coalition -- Kara.
PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thanks.
In the holy city of Kufa, Iraqis are upset about a deadly fight that took place in and around a mosque. U.S. forces raided the shrine and discovered scores of weapons.
CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a fierce battle Sunday, this mosque on the north side of Kufa, no longer belonged to Moqtada al-Sadr.
A major operation by the U.S. military in the city that's the Shia's leader's stronghold ended before dawn. An attack fronted by Iraqi Special Forces killed 16 suspected Mehdi militia members in and around the mosque.
U.S. military found a room full of rocket propelled grenade launchers, mortar guns, artillery and ammunition.
After the battle, the damage control. A civil affairs and psychological operations team came to try to repair the damage from the fight, tangible and intangible.
(on camera) These gates to the mosque were blown off in the battle. Where there was pitched fighting the day after, there's only silence, an almost empty courtyard, an almost empty mosque. But the few people here, not sure what will happen.
(voice-over) This man says he was a laborer at the mosque. He says the imam ran away. He doesn't think he'll come back. He's the only one left here at the shrine dedicated to the Imam Mehdi (ph), whom Shias believe will return on judgment day.
There's still blood in the courtyard.
"This isn't a holy place any more," says an Iraqi military translator. "It's a weapons site."
The United States says the so-called Mehdi militia loyal to al- Sadr used the mosque to fire mortars at the coalition base in Najaf. The military removed most of the weapons overnight but left almost 100 tank rounds they didn't deem a threat.
In the streets around the mosque, where the fighting shattered glass and damaged homes, Iraqis said weapons or no weapons, they didn't believe militia members should have been killed near the shrine.
"They were ordinary people, good people," said this man of the militia that has virtually held the holy city hostage since April.
Preoccupied with complaining about the fighting, no one in the neighborhood seemed to see the tank rounds carried out.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Kufa, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: The cancer your doctor may not even think to check for, men and breast cancer. There's been an alarming increase in cases here in the U.S. We'll have details on that.
And bottled water, with added vitamins? Are they good for you or just good for business?
And if you've got 85 million bucks just laying around, we've got just the house for you. It's LIVE FROM's open house like you've never seen before. That's after this.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Checking health headlines this Monday, May 24.
Breast cancer not just a woman's disease. Male breast cancer is on the rise in the U.S.
A study finds the number of cases among men has risen 26 percent in 25 years. The study says that obesity may be responsible for the increase in breast cancer for both sexes.
Instead of a doctor's visit, patients may soon opt for an e-mail diagnosis. Some insurers and employers are paying doctors to respond to patient e-mails.
The "Boston Globe" reporting Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will start paying some primary care physicians to do it as part of a pilot program there.
And new hope for paralysis patients. Rats with spinal cord injuries regained 70 percent of their normal walking function with a three-part treatment. The University of Miami School of Medicine calls the result a break-through.
Even if you can read a food label, can you believe everything it says? Take water for instance. Lately makers of bottled water are pumping up the products with vitamins. But are you getting what you paid nor?
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us.
I did not know this was happening.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't it amazing?
GRIFFIN: Yes.
COHEN: They're called enhanced waters or vitamin waters. They go by different names.
We brought a collection here. You can get them in raspberry flavor. We've got a strawberry-kiwi. We've got a strawberry-banana. We've got an orange-mango.
There are various things that you should think about when you go to purchase one of these.
First of all, some of them have quite a few calories in them. They range anywhere from zero to 125. And if you're going to eat -- or drink, rather, bottle after bottle, you should keep that in mind.
And another thing to keep in mind is a new report from Consumer Labs, which is a private laboratory. What they found is that not all of these have as many vitamins as they say they have.
They took a look at four different kinds of these vitamin- enhanced waters, and they found that one of them actually did have the amount of vitamins that it was supposed to but that the other three did not.
Three of them did not have as much Vitamin A or as much Vitamin C as they were supposed to.
Now, we called those three companies, and they said that vitamins degrade over time. They degrade when the temperature changes. They degrade when they've been sitting out on the shelf for too long. And so that was how they explained that.
But it important to note, if you're drinking these, and you think you're definitely getting what it says on there, you might not be getting exactly as much as it says.
GRIFFIN: So is this a marketing ploy to find new products, water-based products?
COHEN: Well, definitely, the beverage industry is always looking for new ways to sell beverages, and this is the fastest growing segment of the beverage industry.
And it's an important thing to keep in mind. You don't just want to buy something because of the marketing.
An important thing to keep in mind is that if you're looking for hydration, any kind of water, water out of the tap is going to do it for you. And if you're looking for vitamins, you can get some vitamins here, but it would be much more economical, if you just ate -- ate right. That would be one way of doing it.
GRIFFIN: Imagine that.
COHEN: Imagine that. There's an idea.
Or, B, actually went out and bought a multivitamin. You buy a big bottle of multivitamins, and it's, what, a couple dollars maybe?
GRIFFIN: Right.
COHEN: I mean, these things are a dollar each, and you're just getting one. That's all you're getting. So taking -- drinking water and taking a multivitamin is a much cheaper approach.
GRIFFIN: And the other surprise may be the calories in some of these products you mentioned.
COHEN: Right, 125 calories for one bottle. You might not think about it, because it's water.
GRIFFIN: Right.
COHEN: But it's water with sugar in it, some of them.
GRIFFIN: OK. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
GRIFFIN: I'm going to throw water on my partner here.
PHILLIPS: That was back in the old days.
All right. Still ahead, you could call it a dieter's dilemma. Well, as microwave popcorn made with that controversial fake fat gets the nod, we'll have the skinny next in biz.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, you'll have to outbid Drew, but a centuries old estate is up for sale in Northern London, complete with its own village, racetrack and impeccable pedigree.
GRIFFIN: As CNN's Diana Muriel reports, potential buyers better have some very deep pockets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For sale, Easton Neston, built in 1866 and widely considered the best Baroque house in Britain.
In addition to the mansion, the 3,300-acre estate, 60 miles north of London has its own village, complete with village green, a private racecourse, two farms and a pheasant shoot. Now it could be yours for around $85 million. Agent for the sale, Clive Hopkins, reckons it's a bargain.
CLIVE HOPKINS, KNIGHT FRANK: There's nothing that has come to the market that can match this, at least in the last 50 years. And I think it is that uniqueness that will be the appeal to any future purchaser.
MURIEL: Inside, the house is very much a family home, with a very grand history. The empress of Austria stayed here, as have British prime ministers, and it boasts some of the finest architecture of its type.
HOPKINS: The staircase is considered to be the longest in the British Isles, and it's wonderfully graceful.
MURIEL: The house is the centuries old ancestral seat of the Fermor-Hesketh family. Conscientious custodians of the estate, they have never opened it to the public.
(on camera) Easton Neston's history is inextricably linked with the Hesketh family. Their ancestors have lived here and been buried here for more than 450 years.
Estate workers say the decision to sell off wasn't taken lightly.
(voice-over) But a major fire two years ago in a wing of the house will cost more than $2.5 million to repair.
On top of the ordinary estate running costs, which in a bad year can exceed $3 million, the time has come for the Heskeths to cut their losses and run.
CHRIS PALMER, CEO, HESKETH ESTATE: It's like owning the biggest yacht in the world, and yachts don't make money. And the farm and the racecourse make a contribution, but it wouldn't make a profit.
MURIEL: Above the front door the Latin inscription reads "hora is epre" (ph), now and always. But always has proved too long a time, even for the Heskeths.
Diana Muriel, CNN, Northamptonshire, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: What do you think?
GRIFFIN: Nope.
PHILLIPS: Forget it. Not on this salary, right?
(STOCK REPORT)
GRIFFIN: Speaking of pain at the pump, what's behind the shockingly high gas prices, and what could possibly bring them down again? PHILLIPS: All right, did you know she changed her name?
GRIFFIN: Who?
PHILLIPS: Madge. Madonna is Madge, and she's hitting the road. Where'd she get Madge? But she's canceling shows. Who can blame her? Find out why.
GRIFFIN: And about a half an hour from now, Bush or Kerry, who is in the lead now? The latest numbers and more, all on Judy Woodruff's "INSIDE POLITICS."
We are back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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 May 24, 2004 - 14:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, ANCHOR: We welcome you back with the CNN center in Atlanta. This is LIVE FROM. I'm Drew Griffin.
KYRA PHILLIPS, ANCHOR: And I'm Kyra Phillips. Here's what's new this half hour.
Making the case: the Supreme Court allowing a Death Row inmate to argue against lethal injection.
Moving in, U.S. forces raid a mosque in Iraq and make an unholy discovery inside.
GRIFFIN: And call the realtor, the stately British estate you've had your eye on is finally up for sale. Realtors say this is a steal, the price tag? Just $85 million.
Before you make an offer, here are the top stories we are following for you at this time.
More than five decades since the Korean War, possible Americans missing in action are coming home.
The Defense Department says 19 sets of remains believed to be those of American soldiers missing in action from that war have been recovered. The remains will arrive in Seoul on Wednesday.
New U.S. allegations are coming out against Ahmed Chalabi, a trusted Iraqi ally among some in official Washington. U.S. officials say they believe Chalabi may have given intelligence to Iran and that information was about more than just Iraq.
Chalabi, a member of Iraq's governing council, denies betraying the U.S. An FBI probe now underway.
A sergeant's sleepiness during his murder trial is the focus of a hearing today. Sergeant Hassan Akbar is charged with killing two soldier in a grenade attack in Kuwait.
A military prosecutor says Akbar will be sent to Kentucky for a sleep study to check out his inability to stay awake in court.
To legal news now. The Supreme Court's decision to hear the case of a man on Death Row. An Alabama prisoner claims his execution by lethal injection would be cruel and unusual punishment. Sean Callebs is in Washington with more on why that is -- Sean
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly, Drew.
In this unanimous ruling today, the high court saying that a Death Row inmate may challenge execution procedures in Alabama under federal civil rights law, contending that in his case, lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.
The reason here, David Larry Nelson claimed his veins were damaged by years of drug abuse. Doctors told the Supreme Court justices that, if done improperly, lethal injection could cause Nelson to hemorrhage and suffer heart problems before the lethal cocktail does its job.
Nelson's legal counsel says his veins are so damaged it is impossible to insert an intravenous line without cutting deep into flesh and muscle.
He was only three hours from execution before the Supreme Court halted his execution last fall, and that is at the heart of this matter. The court is using Nelson's appeal to decide a technical question: should last minute appeals from Death Row inmates make their way to the federal appeals court?
Alabama attorneys say no. They contend it was simply too late to stop a scheduled lethal injection. Nelson has been on Death Row 20 years. Alabama officials it's a microcosm of the judicial system bogged down by appeals.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the court, says Nelson should be allowed to pursue his case -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Sean, what are the concerns that this could stop all executions, at least until the Supreme Court makes a decision in this case? Many states use lethal injection as their method.
GRIFFIN: Without question. That was rally at the heart of this -- of this challenge. And indeed, the Supreme Court says, basically, that simply is not going to happen.
They say that this is a simple challenge to one method, that it will not open up the floodgates to other challenges. However, that's exactly what the Alabama attorneys were contending.
O'Connor says the ruling, however, is very narrow. And she says that Nelson should be allowed to argue why in his case, because of his veins, lethal injection would be harsh.
The high court says Nelson's case focuses on this so called cut- down procedure and will not challenge lethal injection overall. However, Nelson's appeal has prompted legal challenges to the various drug cocktails used in other states.
Drew, right now lethal injection is now available in 37 states.
GRIFFIN: Sean, thank you for that report from Washington -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: New allegations of excessive force in Iraq.
Iraqis released a home video today of a wedding party that they allege coalition forces attacked last week. The coalition commanders deny it. They say the bombed a nest of foreign fighters.
Our Barbara Starr is sorting out the details at the Pentagon -- Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, the details, very difficult to sort out at this point. Was it a wedding party; was it a foreign fighters' safe house?
As you say, more video. Now, we have already seen this aftermath video from last week, people moving through the rubble. We don't know where this was taken. Pictures of children being buried. We don't know where or when this video was actually taken.
But today there was additional video from the area of a wedding party, by all accounts. You see a bride moving into a truck here, a vehicle in the background. People celebrating. But again, no direct word, no confirmation on where and when this video was taken.
So what happened? At the briefing in Baghdad, there was a virtual slide show of what the coalition said was material that it recovered from the place it attacked, which it said was a foreign fighters' safe house. Drug paraphernalia, weapons, money, medical equipment, all of that sort of thing.
They said in the coalition -- from the coalition's point of view, this was a demonstration this was a safe house which was outfitted with sleeping quarters for hundreds of people.
But still, Iraqis and the coalition having two very different points of view.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I swear to God there was a wedding. I swear to God there were no weapons. I swear to God we did not fire one bullet.
BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT, U.S. ARMY: But we understand that there are inconsistencies.
But I would tell you that, again, day after day after day as we continue to get more evidence in, as we continue to get more new evidence coming in, it is -- it is pretty clear to us that what happened that night, from the -- about after midnight until at 0400, that the activities that we saw happening on the ground were somewhat inconsistent with a wedding party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STARR: But General Kimmitt, Kyra, going on to say that the coalition will continue to investigate the matter -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Real quickly, Barbara, the heads-up display, the HUD video from the U.S. military aircraft, could that be released?
STARR: At the moment officials are saying no. That will continue to be classified and not released.
However, generally described as showing a warehouse or set of warehouses that were attacked from the air by the United States based on intelligence it says it had that it was a group of foreign fighters meeting here, foreign fighters which have been assembling and conducting attacks against the coalition -- Kara.
PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Thanks.
In the holy city of Kufa, Iraqis are upset about a deadly fight that took place in and around a mosque. U.S. forces raided the shrine and discovered scores of weapons.
CNN's Baghdad bureau chief Jane Arraf has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JANE ARRAF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After a fierce battle Sunday, this mosque on the north side of Kufa, no longer belonged to Moqtada al-Sadr.
A major operation by the U.S. military in the city that's the Shia's leader's stronghold ended before dawn. An attack fronted by Iraqi Special Forces killed 16 suspected Mehdi militia members in and around the mosque.
U.S. military found a room full of rocket propelled grenade launchers, mortar guns, artillery and ammunition.
After the battle, the damage control. A civil affairs and psychological operations team came to try to repair the damage from the fight, tangible and intangible.
(on camera) These gates to the mosque were blown off in the battle. Where there was pitched fighting the day after, there's only silence, an almost empty courtyard, an almost empty mosque. But the few people here, not sure what will happen.
(voice-over) This man says he was a laborer at the mosque. He says the imam ran away. He doesn't think he'll come back. He's the only one left here at the shrine dedicated to the Imam Mehdi (ph), whom Shias believe will return on judgment day.
There's still blood in the courtyard.
"This isn't a holy place any more," says an Iraqi military translator. "It's a weapons site."
The United States says the so-called Mehdi militia loyal to al- Sadr used the mosque to fire mortars at the coalition base in Najaf. The military removed most of the weapons overnight but left almost 100 tank rounds they didn't deem a threat.
In the streets around the mosque, where the fighting shattered glass and damaged homes, Iraqis said weapons or no weapons, they didn't believe militia members should have been killed near the shrine.
"They were ordinary people, good people," said this man of the militia that has virtually held the holy city hostage since April.
Preoccupied with complaining about the fighting, no one in the neighborhood seemed to see the tank rounds carried out.
Jane Arraf, CNN, Kufa, Iraq.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: The cancer your doctor may not even think to check for, men and breast cancer. There's been an alarming increase in cases here in the U.S. We'll have details on that.
And bottled water, with added vitamins? Are they good for you or just good for business?
And if you've got 85 million bucks just laying around, we've got just the house for you. It's LIVE FROM's open house like you've never seen before. That's after this.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching LIVE FROM on CNN, the most trusted name in news.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Checking health headlines this Monday, May 24.
Breast cancer not just a woman's disease. Male breast cancer is on the rise in the U.S.
A study finds the number of cases among men has risen 26 percent in 25 years. The study says that obesity may be responsible for the increase in breast cancer for both sexes.
Instead of a doctor's visit, patients may soon opt for an e-mail diagnosis. Some insurers and employers are paying doctors to respond to patient e-mails.
The "Boston Globe" reporting Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts will start paying some primary care physicians to do it as part of a pilot program there.
And new hope for paralysis patients. Rats with spinal cord injuries regained 70 percent of their normal walking function with a three-part treatment. The University of Miami School of Medicine calls the result a break-through.
Even if you can read a food label, can you believe everything it says? Take water for instance. Lately makers of bottled water are pumping up the products with vitamins. But are you getting what you paid nor?
CNN medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us.
I did not know this was happening.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Isn't it amazing?
GRIFFIN: Yes.
COHEN: They're called enhanced waters or vitamin waters. They go by different names.
We brought a collection here. You can get them in raspberry flavor. We've got a strawberry-kiwi. We've got a strawberry-banana. We've got an orange-mango.
There are various things that you should think about when you go to purchase one of these.
First of all, some of them have quite a few calories in them. They range anywhere from zero to 125. And if you're going to eat -- or drink, rather, bottle after bottle, you should keep that in mind.
And another thing to keep in mind is a new report from Consumer Labs, which is a private laboratory. What they found is that not all of these have as many vitamins as they say they have.
They took a look at four different kinds of these vitamin- enhanced waters, and they found that one of them actually did have the amount of vitamins that it was supposed to but that the other three did not.
Three of them did not have as much Vitamin A or as much Vitamin C as they were supposed to.
Now, we called those three companies, and they said that vitamins degrade over time. They degrade when the temperature changes. They degrade when they've been sitting out on the shelf for too long. And so that was how they explained that.
But it important to note, if you're drinking these, and you think you're definitely getting what it says on there, you might not be getting exactly as much as it says.
GRIFFIN: So is this a marketing ploy to find new products, water-based products?
COHEN: Well, definitely, the beverage industry is always looking for new ways to sell beverages, and this is the fastest growing segment of the beverage industry.
And it's an important thing to keep in mind. You don't just want to buy something because of the marketing.
An important thing to keep in mind is that if you're looking for hydration, any kind of water, water out of the tap is going to do it for you. And if you're looking for vitamins, you can get some vitamins here, but it would be much more economical, if you just ate -- ate right. That would be one way of doing it.
GRIFFIN: Imagine that.
COHEN: Imagine that. There's an idea.
Or, B, actually went out and bought a multivitamin. You buy a big bottle of multivitamins, and it's, what, a couple dollars maybe?
GRIFFIN: Right.
COHEN: I mean, these things are a dollar each, and you're just getting one. That's all you're getting. So taking -- drinking water and taking a multivitamin is a much cheaper approach.
GRIFFIN: And the other surprise may be the calories in some of these products you mentioned.
COHEN: Right, 125 calories for one bottle. You might not think about it, because it's water.
GRIFFIN: Right.
COHEN: But it's water with sugar in it, some of them.
GRIFFIN: OK. Elizabeth Cohen, thanks.
COHEN: Thanks.
GRIFFIN: I'm going to throw water on my partner here.
PHILLIPS: That was back in the old days.
All right. Still ahead, you could call it a dieter's dilemma. Well, as microwave popcorn made with that controversial fake fat gets the nod, we'll have the skinny next in biz.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, you'll have to outbid Drew, but a centuries old estate is up for sale in Northern London, complete with its own village, racetrack and impeccable pedigree.
GRIFFIN: As CNN's Diana Muriel reports, potential buyers better have some very deep pockets.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANA MURIEL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For sale, Easton Neston, built in 1866 and widely considered the best Baroque house in Britain.
In addition to the mansion, the 3,300-acre estate, 60 miles north of London has its own village, complete with village green, a private racecourse, two farms and a pheasant shoot. Now it could be yours for around $85 million. Agent for the sale, Clive Hopkins, reckons it's a bargain.
CLIVE HOPKINS, KNIGHT FRANK: There's nothing that has come to the market that can match this, at least in the last 50 years. And I think it is that uniqueness that will be the appeal to any future purchaser.
MURIEL: Inside, the house is very much a family home, with a very grand history. The empress of Austria stayed here, as have British prime ministers, and it boasts some of the finest architecture of its type.
HOPKINS: The staircase is considered to be the longest in the British Isles, and it's wonderfully graceful.
MURIEL: The house is the centuries old ancestral seat of the Fermor-Hesketh family. Conscientious custodians of the estate, they have never opened it to the public.
(on camera) Easton Neston's history is inextricably linked with the Hesketh family. Their ancestors have lived here and been buried here for more than 450 years.
Estate workers say the decision to sell off wasn't taken lightly.
(voice-over) But a major fire two years ago in a wing of the house will cost more than $2.5 million to repair.
On top of the ordinary estate running costs, which in a bad year can exceed $3 million, the time has come for the Heskeths to cut their losses and run.
CHRIS PALMER, CEO, HESKETH ESTATE: It's like owning the biggest yacht in the world, and yachts don't make money. And the farm and the racecourse make a contribution, but it wouldn't make a profit.
MURIEL: Above the front door the Latin inscription reads "hora is epre" (ph), now and always. But always has proved too long a time, even for the Heskeths.
Diana Muriel, CNN, Northamptonshire, England.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: What do you think?
GRIFFIN: Nope.
PHILLIPS: Forget it. Not on this salary, right?
(STOCK REPORT)
GRIFFIN: Speaking of pain at the pump, what's behind the shockingly high gas prices, and what could possibly bring them down again? PHILLIPS: All right, did you know she changed her name?
GRIFFIN: Who?
PHILLIPS: Madge. Madonna is Madge, and she's hitting the road. Where'd she get Madge? But she's canceling shows. Who can blame her? Find out why.
GRIFFIN: And about a half an hour from now, Bush or Kerry, who is in the lead now? The latest numbers and more, all on Judy Woodruff's "INSIDE POLITICS."
We are back after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
