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CNN Live Today

'Daily Dose'

Aired December 03, 2004 - 11:30   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.


RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Twenty years ago today, toxic chemicals leaked at a this plan in the Bhopal, Indiana, leading to 15,000 deaths. Today an erroneous BBC report that the Dow Chemical had taken responsibility for the accident, caused Dow shares to plunge in Europe erasing two billion in market value. The Dow rebounded after the BBC admitted it was wrong. The report was wrong. They had been duped.
Ukraine's supreme court this hour invalidated the disputed results of the presidential run-off. The judges are calling for a repeat of the balloting to determine Ukraine's next president. This is news you heard right here moments ago. And you're looking at a live picture by the way. The election was widely regarded as fraudulent by the United States and European observers. And it drew tens of thousands of protesters to the streets. Once again, the Supreme Court has just said they will have another run-off election, and it take place in three weeks, a victory for Yushchenko.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So you're out will surfing around on the Internet, you probably heard that almost everything can be found on the Internet if somebody wants to know.

If you don't believe it, our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg has a report that might change your mind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might think of Wyoming as the perfect place in which to get lost. It's the tenth largest state in the union, yet it's dead last in population, a haven for many. However, the Cowboy State is where a lot of people are found, specifically, the basement of this house on the outskirts of Cheyenne.

This is the home of Jay Patel, founder of an Internet background search service called Abika.

JAY PATEL, FOUNDER, ABIKA.COM: I don't even believe in privacy too much. But first, like most people, when they discuss privacy, why do we need privacy? That's the question. Like why do people need privacy?

SIEBERG: He says most people agree, privacy isn't important. In fact, he says the world would be a better place if everyone knew everything about each other.

PATEL: Do you know what the root cause of hatred or intolerance is? It's because people don't know about other people.

SIEBERG: And Jay Patel says he's here to help. His company can track down a name from an e-mail address or instant message screen name, find an unlisted or blocked phone number, verify a person's salary. In fact, Abika has more than 300 ways for you to snoop on others and more than 300 ways for them to snoop on you.

(on camera): Do you ever worry that this information could fall into the wrong hands? People these days talk about terrorism or criminal activity? Is it -- do you worry about that.

PATEL: See, but for us it's not something we can even can not find it by going directly to the source. So it's not something which is like exclusive to us. It's right there. So we are only searching it. We don't create this information and we don't access anything which is restricted. We are just a small company in the basement here.

SIEBERG (voice-over): When Jay and his staff receive a request for information, they often get nothing more than a name and last known address. They send that information to private investigators, court researchers and keepers of various databases. Abika will even create a psychological profile of a person, all this usually without the subject knowing he or she is being investigated.

So, I decided to request a search on myself. At least I'd know about it.

(on camera): So, I mean you have my Social Security number. Is there the possibility that someone could steal my identity because this information is so easy to get?

PATEL: If you'll see, we don't release the Social Security number. The last four digits are Xed out. So in your whole profile?

SIEBERG: Right?

PATEL: You'll see that it's not released to anyone, the Social Security number.

SIEBERG: But could someone else find that as easily as you did?

PATEL: Social Security numbers are the easiest thing to find, as such.

SIEBERG (voice-over): A scary thought. But Jay says Abika releases Social Security numbers only to qualified customers. However, we also ordered a general background search on another person and did get his Social Security number because it was the same as his driver's license number. And that's just one of the things that has privacy advocates concerned about services like Abika.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These new information brokers that have sprouted up on the Internet are really operating in the wild, wild West. There is no regulation or control. The information that these companies provide becomes the basis for decisions about whether you get a job, about whether you clear a background check, about whether you're able to lease an apartment, maybe even whether you get a home loan.

So the risk is very tangible that a mistake will be made, that you'll be turned down for an opportunity that you really are entitled to.

SIEBERG: Still, these data brokers have a lot of fans. Software executive Steve Kirsch uses Abika and other services to sue the senders of junk faxes.

STEVE KIRSCH, PROPEL SOFTWARE: Propel will get lots of unsolicited faxes and the only identification -- they'll be no identification of the company on the faxes. And so the only thing we'll have is an 800 number that we should dial. So we've used Abika to look up who owns the 800 number, because when we call the 800 number, of course, they just give us a phony company name and a phony location.

SIEBERG (on camera): As proof that Jay's approach to privacy can work for some people, Jay actually points to his own situation. Before moving here to Wyoming, he lived in South Dakota. One day he was at a store there and he saw a girl and read her name tag, then went home and did a background search on her. And when he returned to the store, he told her some things about her that he had found. Now, surprisingly, she didn't slap him. Instead, three weeks later, they were married.

(voice-over): But not all background checks have a happy ending. In 1999 in New Hampshire, Liam Youens used another Internet data broker called Docusearch to find out where a former high school classmate worked. He then shot and killed the woman, 20-year-old Amy Boyer, as she left work. He also killed himself. Boyer's family sued Docusearch, saying it should have told the woman she was being investigated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to work not knowing that her personal private information was given by Docusearch, the defendants, to someone who had no legal right to have it.

SIEBERG: But Docusearch argued it has no duty to check a customer's background.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He premeditated his crime and he killed her. Telling him where she worked didn't foreseeably increase the risk of anything. It didn't proximately cause anything. It had nothing to do with Amy Boyer's death.

SIEBERG: The suit was settled out of court this year, with the Boyer family getting $85,000. But the background search industry is still going strong. As Youens wrote on his personal Web site, "It's actually obscene what you can find out about a person on the Internet."

Comments like that have many people searching for the balance between openness and the obscene. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: We should point out that private companies aren't the only data miners in a General Accounting Office report released earlier this year, dozens of government agencies were found to be sifting through massive amounts of data, some of it personal in nature. Most of the cases were related to counterterrorism measures, or preventing fraud or criminal activity, but some were designed to check on the behavior of certain personnel. As we pointed out, privacy watchdogs say the practice can be useful with the proper safeguards in place.

Rick and Daryn.

Somebody's watching.

Thank you, Daniel.

SANCHEZ: It's all about the safeguards that are in place.

KAGAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: A scandal involving the likes of Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. Can you believe it?

Once again, we're focusing attention on steroids. Just what are the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: In today's "Daily Dose," understanding steroids, the banned substances have been a not so secret part of sports for many years. But many lay people may not understand what these drugs are and how they work.

Our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has an explanation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the performance enhancing substances are certainly increasing in use among athletes. Not always easy to tell which athletes are using the substances.

Some things to look for, for example, increased muscle mass. Of course, that's the reason they take them in the first place.

Also more subtle things, like decreased recovery time from a workout. Not necessarily something you see, but you might notice.

Increased aggression, psychological disorders associated with use of anabolic steroids.

There are more subtle things as well in terms of skin changes, you might see acne, more prominent breasts, baldness, changes in voice and in the longer term infertility, liver problems and even heart problems as well.

When it comes to steroid use in professional athletes, you often see increases of muscle mass, but not a corresponding increase in performance. Steroids that are used in people who have a deficient see increased amount of performance, but those that are already healthy may only see a moderate amounts of increase in performance.

Human growth hormone also a subject today, talking about human growth hormone in terms of its affects in the long run, increased protein production, builds muscle, burns more fat, makes you leaner. People used to call this medication the fountain of youth. Unfortunately, it can cause nausea, vomiting, carpal tunnel syndrome and acromegaly. Certainly, performance enhancing substances and professional athletes is going to be something we're going to keep a tap on and bring you more as we get updated.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news log on to our Web site, you'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address is cnn.com.

SANCHEZ: We live in this wonderful country, with so many things that we're blessed with, but sometimes we ask ourselves what could I possibly do to help perhaps others around the world who don't have half the things that we have?

KAGAN: Well, we're going to meet a couple kids who took matters in their own hands. And now they're being rewarded for it. You will meet them coming up.

SANCHEZ: Now to that story we were mentioning to you, roughly 1 billion people in the world subsist on less than $1 per day. And many of those are kids, little children. An organization committed to doing something about it is NetAid, it's a nonprofit founded five years ago by the United Nations and the Cisco Systems. Last night, NetAid presented its Global Action Awards to four outstanding American teenagers who worked for years to try and combat poverty in the third world. Two of them are good enough to join us this morning, and we're happy to have them.

Maura Welch is from Syracuse. And she spent years addressing child labor issues, especially in Latin America.

And Chi Nguyen is from San Roman, California, a veteran at helping the orphans in Vietnam. My thanks to both of you.

MAURA WELCH, ACTION AWARD HONOREE: Thank you.

CHI NGUYEN, ACTION AWARD HONOREE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Job well done. Chi, let me begin with you. I understand you got started when you were 10-years-old raising money and helping people?

NGUYEN: I Did. When I was 10, my sister and I started our first fund-raiser, it was actually just a garage sale event. And we raised almost $1,000 selling my own collection of Beanie Babies and we made our homemade almond toffee and sold that to neighbors and friends, people who came who heard about our event.

SANCHEZ: What I was reading was, that when you started this, you thought, you know what Mom, I'm going to try to go out there and see if I can get maybe a couple hundred dollars. You bested that by what, about four or five times, didn't you?

NGUYEN: Yes. Were expecting to get $200. We thought we'd be lucky if we reached over $50. But people were incredibly supportive and they came all the way from an hour, two hours away to come see us and support us.

SANCHEZ: Maura, tell us what the issue is with child labor laws and the problems that are developing all over the country. But I understand -- all over world, I should say. But I understand your emphasis is on Latin America.

WELCH: Yes, actually in the summer of 2003 I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Peru and Ecuador for six weeks to just meet with child laborers and just spend some amazing time with them. I was able to meet with a lot of street kids who sell post cards 14 hours a day and they're lucky if they make 10 cents. And a lot of times they don't get to eat. They have no house.

And I was also able to go to Ecuador where I stayed in a farming village for two weeks. I did crazy things, like I farmed for potatoes. I ate guinea pig. It was so much fun. And at the same time I learned so much from these kids. I mean, they have hardly anything, but at the same time, they are always happy. They're always positive. And whatever they do have, they share with everyone.

SANCHEZ: Do you think -- do you think American kids are spoiled?

WELCH: I would think -- well, yes. We're just lucky to be born in the situation that we are, to have families that we do. I mean, the kids that I've met, you know in Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, all over the world, they're just like us. They're just not quite as fortunate as we are.

SANCHEZ: I think. When you were there and you were seeing these other children, perhaps your age who were -- who had so little and were working so hard to keep whatever it is they had and you compared it to your life, did you wish that more of your friends, your schoolmates, your neighbors could experience this?

And did you feel this need to go and tell them what you'd experienced?

Is that what has driven you? WELCH: Definitely. I mean, you go there and it changes your life. I mean, once you meet these children you know that you have to dedicate your life to this and that you have to change their lives and make them better. And the one thing that really -- I mean, that really hurt me, while I was there, I knew I was going back to my nice house, my nice school and my clothes. But the only thing I could promise these kids is that I would bring their story back and tell it to anyone who is willing to listen.

SANCHEZ: Well, I'll tell you and it's a good thing that you're doing it. Because you -- both of you are just so incredibly articulate. I've spoken to people who are at least much older than both of you who haven't been able to present themselves as well as both of you. Very impressive.

Chi, lets go back to you. A little bit different situation for you because you're not an American kid per se. You have an experience coming from another country, no less like myself, a communist country.

How does that come into the mix?

How does that make you relate to perhaps things that are going on in the world that all us in this country should probably understand and appreciate?

NGUYEN: Well, I actually wasn't born in Vietnam, I was born in California. And so, I only had stories that my parents told me, stories of their childhood in Vietnam during a time of war. And that was especially -- a little bit heartbreaking, because they would tell stories about their friends who they were talking to one day and the next day they would find out that their friends had died by stepping on a land mine.

SANCHEZ: That's interesting, because I heard similar stories from my parents coming from that.

Did that move you?

Did their stories that you heard from your parents, has it driven you to perhaps help people in other places like that?

NGUYEN: Yes. That's exactly my motivation. That was how I came up with the idea that I had to do something. Because I felt that it wasn't exactly fair. At that time, I didn't understand to what extent. It didn't make much sense to me. I didn't really understand the concept of death and poverty.

SANCHEZ: We're going to have to leave it there, only because we're out of time. But we do thank you. You guys are, like I said, are very -- impressive to awful us. Thanks for sharing your stories with us. A job well done.

NGUYEN: Thank you very much for having us.

WELCH: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

KAGAN: Impressive young women, perhaps future cabinet secretaries.

Another job is going to be open. While you were talking to those girls, Tommy Thompson, Health and Human Services secretary has announced he is hanging up his title. The former governor of Wisconsin has served first term for President Bush. The latest cabinet member to say that he has done his time and he is ready to go back home. So we will be getting more on that. But Associated Press reporting that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has offered his resignation to President Bush. More on that, just ahead, as well as business news, we'll be checking on right now, after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

KAGAN: So before we get out of here for the week, we have a big good-bye to say.

SANCHEZ: Yes. This is what we in the business call a control room. We're going to show it to you now. Chez (ph) is probably dying in there. He's our producer, and he's a great guy, and he's moving on.

KAGAN: He's going to play with the big kids in New York City.

SANCHEZ: Going to New York, are you, Chez.

Yes?

KAGAN: Yes, and he thought he could get out of here that easy. He's been working with us here on our 11:00 a.m. Eastern show. He's been a great addition, and of course, as with all the good, he gets stolen by the New York people.

SANCHEZ: Chez Pazienza (ph), daddy, Ralph, very proud of him now. I guarantee you. Old friend of ours as well. We worked with Chez for a long time now.

KAGAN: You've got some stories.

SANCHEZ: He's another one of those Miami kids. You got to watch out for him.

KAGAN: Absolutely.

Thanks for joining us this week. I'm Daryn Kagan.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. And we'll see you here again Monday.

KAGAN: And WOLF BLITZER takes over at the top of the hour.

(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 December 3, 2004 - 11:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Twenty years ago today, toxic chemicals leaked at a this plan in the Bhopal, Indiana, leading to 15,000 deaths. Today an erroneous BBC report that the Dow Chemical had taken responsibility for the accident, caused Dow shares to plunge in Europe erasing two billion in market value. The Dow rebounded after the BBC admitted it was wrong. The report was wrong. They had been duped.
Ukraine's supreme court this hour invalidated the disputed results of the presidential run-off. The judges are calling for a repeat of the balloting to determine Ukraine's next president. This is news you heard right here moments ago. And you're looking at a live picture by the way. The election was widely regarded as fraudulent by the United States and European observers. And it drew tens of thousands of protesters to the streets. Once again, the Supreme Court has just said they will have another run-off election, and it take place in three weeks, a victory for Yushchenko.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: So you're out will surfing around on the Internet, you probably heard that almost everything can be found on the Internet if somebody wants to know.

If you don't believe it, our technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg has a report that might change your mind.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You might think of Wyoming as the perfect place in which to get lost. It's the tenth largest state in the union, yet it's dead last in population, a haven for many. However, the Cowboy State is where a lot of people are found, specifically, the basement of this house on the outskirts of Cheyenne.

This is the home of Jay Patel, founder of an Internet background search service called Abika.

JAY PATEL, FOUNDER, ABIKA.COM: I don't even believe in privacy too much. But first, like most people, when they discuss privacy, why do we need privacy? That's the question. Like why do people need privacy?

SIEBERG: He says most people agree, privacy isn't important. In fact, he says the world would be a better place if everyone knew everything about each other.

PATEL: Do you know what the root cause of hatred or intolerance is? It's because people don't know about other people.

SIEBERG: And Jay Patel says he's here to help. His company can track down a name from an e-mail address or instant message screen name, find an unlisted or blocked phone number, verify a person's salary. In fact, Abika has more than 300 ways for you to snoop on others and more than 300 ways for them to snoop on you.

(on camera): Do you ever worry that this information could fall into the wrong hands? People these days talk about terrorism or criminal activity? Is it -- do you worry about that.

PATEL: See, but for us it's not something we can even can not find it by going directly to the source. So it's not something which is like exclusive to us. It's right there. So we are only searching it. We don't create this information and we don't access anything which is restricted. We are just a small company in the basement here.

SIEBERG (voice-over): When Jay and his staff receive a request for information, they often get nothing more than a name and last known address. They send that information to private investigators, court researchers and keepers of various databases. Abika will even create a psychological profile of a person, all this usually without the subject knowing he or she is being investigated.

So, I decided to request a search on myself. At least I'd know about it.

(on camera): So, I mean you have my Social Security number. Is there the possibility that someone could steal my identity because this information is so easy to get?

PATEL: If you'll see, we don't release the Social Security number. The last four digits are Xed out. So in your whole profile?

SIEBERG: Right?

PATEL: You'll see that it's not released to anyone, the Social Security number.

SIEBERG: But could someone else find that as easily as you did?

PATEL: Social Security numbers are the easiest thing to find, as such.

SIEBERG (voice-over): A scary thought. But Jay says Abika releases Social Security numbers only to qualified customers. However, we also ordered a general background search on another person and did get his Social Security number because it was the same as his driver's license number. And that's just one of the things that has privacy advocates concerned about services like Abika.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These new information brokers that have sprouted up on the Internet are really operating in the wild, wild West. There is no regulation or control. The information that these companies provide becomes the basis for decisions about whether you get a job, about whether you clear a background check, about whether you're able to lease an apartment, maybe even whether you get a home loan.

So the risk is very tangible that a mistake will be made, that you'll be turned down for an opportunity that you really are entitled to.

SIEBERG: Still, these data brokers have a lot of fans. Software executive Steve Kirsch uses Abika and other services to sue the senders of junk faxes.

STEVE KIRSCH, PROPEL SOFTWARE: Propel will get lots of unsolicited faxes and the only identification -- they'll be no identification of the company on the faxes. And so the only thing we'll have is an 800 number that we should dial. So we've used Abika to look up who owns the 800 number, because when we call the 800 number, of course, they just give us a phony company name and a phony location.

SIEBERG (on camera): As proof that Jay's approach to privacy can work for some people, Jay actually points to his own situation. Before moving here to Wyoming, he lived in South Dakota. One day he was at a store there and he saw a girl and read her name tag, then went home and did a background search on her. And when he returned to the store, he told her some things about her that he had found. Now, surprisingly, she didn't slap him. Instead, three weeks later, they were married.

(voice-over): But not all background checks have a happy ending. In 1999 in New Hampshire, Liam Youens used another Internet data broker called Docusearch to find out where a former high school classmate worked. He then shot and killed the woman, 20-year-old Amy Boyer, as she left work. He also killed himself. Boyer's family sued Docusearch, saying it should have told the woman she was being investigated.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She went to work not knowing that her personal private information was given by Docusearch, the defendants, to someone who had no legal right to have it.

SIEBERG: But Docusearch argued it has no duty to check a customer's background.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He premeditated his crime and he killed her. Telling him where she worked didn't foreseeably increase the risk of anything. It didn't proximately cause anything. It had nothing to do with Amy Boyer's death.

SIEBERG: The suit was settled out of court this year, with the Boyer family getting $85,000. But the background search industry is still going strong. As Youens wrote on his personal Web site, "It's actually obscene what you can find out about a person on the Internet."

Comments like that have many people searching for the balance between openness and the obscene. (END VIDEOTAPE)

SIEBERG: We should point out that private companies aren't the only data miners in a General Accounting Office report released earlier this year, dozens of government agencies were found to be sifting through massive amounts of data, some of it personal in nature. Most of the cases were related to counterterrorism measures, or preventing fraud or criminal activity, but some were designed to check on the behavior of certain personnel. As we pointed out, privacy watchdogs say the practice can be useful with the proper safeguards in place.

Rick and Daryn.

Somebody's watching.

Thank you, Daniel.

SANCHEZ: It's all about the safeguards that are in place.

KAGAN: Yes.

SANCHEZ: A scandal involving the likes of Barry Bonds and Jason Giambi. Can you believe it?

Once again, we're focusing attention on steroids. Just what are the dangers of performance-enhancing drugs? Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: In today's "Daily Dose," understanding steroids, the banned substances have been a not so secret part of sports for many years. But many lay people may not understand what these drugs are and how they work.

Our senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, has an explanation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the performance enhancing substances are certainly increasing in use among athletes. Not always easy to tell which athletes are using the substances.

Some things to look for, for example, increased muscle mass. Of course, that's the reason they take them in the first place.

Also more subtle things, like decreased recovery time from a workout. Not necessarily something you see, but you might notice.

Increased aggression, psychological disorders associated with use of anabolic steroids.

There are more subtle things as well in terms of skin changes, you might see acne, more prominent breasts, baldness, changes in voice and in the longer term infertility, liver problems and even heart problems as well.

When it comes to steroid use in professional athletes, you often see increases of muscle mass, but not a corresponding increase in performance. Steroids that are used in people who have a deficient see increased amount of performance, but those that are already healthy may only see a moderate amounts of increase in performance.

Human growth hormone also a subject today, talking about human growth hormone in terms of its affects in the long run, increased protein production, builds muscle, burns more fat, makes you leaner. People used to call this medication the fountain of youth. Unfortunately, it can cause nausea, vomiting, carpal tunnel syndrome and acromegaly. Certainly, performance enhancing substances and professional athletes is going to be something we're going to keep a tap on and bring you more as we get updated.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: To get your "Daily Dose" of health news log on to our Web site, you'll find the latest medical news, a health library, and information on diet and fitness. The address is cnn.com.

SANCHEZ: We live in this wonderful country, with so many things that we're blessed with, but sometimes we ask ourselves what could I possibly do to help perhaps others around the world who don't have half the things that we have?

KAGAN: Well, we're going to meet a couple kids who took matters in their own hands. And now they're being rewarded for it. You will meet them coming up.

SANCHEZ: Now to that story we were mentioning to you, roughly 1 billion people in the world subsist on less than $1 per day. And many of those are kids, little children. An organization committed to doing something about it is NetAid, it's a nonprofit founded five years ago by the United Nations and the Cisco Systems. Last night, NetAid presented its Global Action Awards to four outstanding American teenagers who worked for years to try and combat poverty in the third world. Two of them are good enough to join us this morning, and we're happy to have them.

Maura Welch is from Syracuse. And she spent years addressing child labor issues, especially in Latin America.

And Chi Nguyen is from San Roman, California, a veteran at helping the orphans in Vietnam. My thanks to both of you.

MAURA WELCH, ACTION AWARD HONOREE: Thank you.

CHI NGUYEN, ACTION AWARD HONOREE: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Job well done. Chi, let me begin with you. I understand you got started when you were 10-years-old raising money and helping people?

NGUYEN: I Did. When I was 10, my sister and I started our first fund-raiser, it was actually just a garage sale event. And we raised almost $1,000 selling my own collection of Beanie Babies and we made our homemade almond toffee and sold that to neighbors and friends, people who came who heard about our event.

SANCHEZ: What I was reading was, that when you started this, you thought, you know what Mom, I'm going to try to go out there and see if I can get maybe a couple hundred dollars. You bested that by what, about four or five times, didn't you?

NGUYEN: Yes. Were expecting to get $200. We thought we'd be lucky if we reached over $50. But people were incredibly supportive and they came all the way from an hour, two hours away to come see us and support us.

SANCHEZ: Maura, tell us what the issue is with child labor laws and the problems that are developing all over the country. But I understand -- all over world, I should say. But I understand your emphasis is on Latin America.

WELCH: Yes, actually in the summer of 2003 I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Peru and Ecuador for six weeks to just meet with child laborers and just spend some amazing time with them. I was able to meet with a lot of street kids who sell post cards 14 hours a day and they're lucky if they make 10 cents. And a lot of times they don't get to eat. They have no house.

And I was also able to go to Ecuador where I stayed in a farming village for two weeks. I did crazy things, like I farmed for potatoes. I ate guinea pig. It was so much fun. And at the same time I learned so much from these kids. I mean, they have hardly anything, but at the same time, they are always happy. They're always positive. And whatever they do have, they share with everyone.

SANCHEZ: Do you think -- do you think American kids are spoiled?

WELCH: I would think -- well, yes. We're just lucky to be born in the situation that we are, to have families that we do. I mean, the kids that I've met, you know in Peru, Ecuador, Mexico, all over the world, they're just like us. They're just not quite as fortunate as we are.

SANCHEZ: I think. When you were there and you were seeing these other children, perhaps your age who were -- who had so little and were working so hard to keep whatever it is they had and you compared it to your life, did you wish that more of your friends, your schoolmates, your neighbors could experience this?

And did you feel this need to go and tell them what you'd experienced?

Is that what has driven you? WELCH: Definitely. I mean, you go there and it changes your life. I mean, once you meet these children you know that you have to dedicate your life to this and that you have to change their lives and make them better. And the one thing that really -- I mean, that really hurt me, while I was there, I knew I was going back to my nice house, my nice school and my clothes. But the only thing I could promise these kids is that I would bring their story back and tell it to anyone who is willing to listen.

SANCHEZ: Well, I'll tell you and it's a good thing that you're doing it. Because you -- both of you are just so incredibly articulate. I've spoken to people who are at least much older than both of you who haven't been able to present themselves as well as both of you. Very impressive.

Chi, lets go back to you. A little bit different situation for you because you're not an American kid per se. You have an experience coming from another country, no less like myself, a communist country.

How does that come into the mix?

How does that make you relate to perhaps things that are going on in the world that all us in this country should probably understand and appreciate?

NGUYEN: Well, I actually wasn't born in Vietnam, I was born in California. And so, I only had stories that my parents told me, stories of their childhood in Vietnam during a time of war. And that was especially -- a little bit heartbreaking, because they would tell stories about their friends who they were talking to one day and the next day they would find out that their friends had died by stepping on a land mine.

SANCHEZ: That's interesting, because I heard similar stories from my parents coming from that.

Did that move you?

Did their stories that you heard from your parents, has it driven you to perhaps help people in other places like that?

NGUYEN: Yes. That's exactly my motivation. That was how I came up with the idea that I had to do something. Because I felt that it wasn't exactly fair. At that time, I didn't understand to what extent. It didn't make much sense to me. I didn't really understand the concept of death and poverty.

SANCHEZ: We're going to have to leave it there, only because we're out of time. But we do thank you. You guys are, like I said, are very -- impressive to awful us. Thanks for sharing your stories with us. A job well done.

NGUYEN: Thank you very much for having us.

WELCH: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

KAGAN: Impressive young women, perhaps future cabinet secretaries.

Another job is going to be open. While you were talking to those girls, Tommy Thompson, Health and Human Services secretary has announced he is hanging up his title. The former governor of Wisconsin has served first term for President Bush. The latest cabinet member to say that he has done his time and he is ready to go back home. So we will be getting more on that. But Associated Press reporting that Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson has offered his resignation to President Bush. More on that, just ahead, as well as business news, we'll be checking on right now, after the break.

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KAGAN: So before we get out of here for the week, we have a big good-bye to say.

SANCHEZ: Yes. This is what we in the business call a control room. We're going to show it to you now. Chez (ph) is probably dying in there. He's our producer, and he's a great guy, and he's moving on.

KAGAN: He's going to play with the big kids in New York City.

SANCHEZ: Going to New York, are you, Chez.

Yes?

KAGAN: Yes, and he thought he could get out of here that easy. He's been working with us here on our 11:00 a.m. Eastern show. He's been a great addition, and of course, as with all the good, he gets stolen by the New York people.

SANCHEZ: Chez Pazienza (ph), daddy, Ralph, very proud of him now. I guarantee you. Old friend of ours as well. We worked with Chez for a long time now.

KAGAN: You've got some stories.

SANCHEZ: He's another one of those Miami kids. You got to watch out for him.

KAGAN: Absolutely.

Thanks for joining us this week. I'm Daryn Kagan.

SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez. Have a wonderful weekend, everyone. And we'll see you here again Monday.

KAGAN: And WOLF BLITZER takes over at the top of the hour.

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