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CNN Live Today

Signs, Prevention of Skin Cancer; Pipeline Explosion Kills Hundreds in Nigeria; Behind the Scenes with Celebrity Publicists; Hong Kong Airport Finds Innovative Way to Track Baggage

Aired May 12, 2006 - 10:30   ET

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

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And from fire now to the burning questions from you about a serious health threat, skin cancer. We were flooded with your e-mails about the disease when we spoke with a dermatologist earlier this wee.
A few quick facts about skin cancer. More than a million and a half new cases are diagnosed every year. One in five Americans will eventually develop skin cancer, and there are about 8,000 melanoma deaths each year.

Scary stats. That's what's prompted a lot of you to ask some really good questions. Atlanta dermatologist Dr. D.J. Papadopoulos back with us today with the answers.

Doctor P., good morning.

DR. D.J. PAPADOPOULOS, DERMATOLOGIST: Good morning.

KAGAN: Like I said, we got a big response. Let's get right to the e-mail. The first one comes from Colleen in New York. We have your question. She says, "As a young child I sustained two blistering sunburns. What I can do now as an adult since the damage was done when I was a child?"

PAPADOPOULOS: Well, I think the most important thing is for that person to be examined regularly. Some of the things that we talked about before were, you know, if you have very fair skin, if you have been -- if you've had a history of exposure and a history of sunburns, the most important thing is to be informed, to have a dermatologist examine you thoroughly and make absolutely sure that there isn't anything that's suspicious.

The next thing to do is to continue to be followed on a routine basis so that nothing develops in that interim. And if you happen to see something that looks like it's very, very unusual in terms of color or in terms of something that's bleeding or not healing correctly, then in that circumstance you have to go in to be seen.

KAGAN: Right to the doctor. Now let's go to the other coast, to California. Joseph writes in. He says, "I've known three people who have succumbed to melanoma and in all three cases the melanoma started at a point on their bodies that had never received sunlight. How did does that work?"

PAPADOPOULOS: There are a lot of things that we don't understand about melanoma, and one of the things we don't understand is why is it that it develops in places that the sun never sees.

KAGAN: Like the bottom of your feet, let's say.

PAPADOPOULOS: Exactly. Exactly right. And I think that it's very, very important to understand that it isn't only sunshine that contributes to melanoma. There are genetic factors that contribute to melanoma. There are lifestyle issues that probably contribute to melanoma. There are pollution issues that probably contribute to melanoma.

And I think we know a piece of the puzzle, but not the entire aspect of what's doing in the development of melanoma, and that's one of the reasons why we see it in places that we don't expect to see it.

KAGAN: Again, all roads lead back to the dermatologist.

PAPADOPOULOS: That's right. And that's really the key.

KAGAN: Strangest place you've ever seen a melanoma?

PAPADOPOULOS: I've seen an interglutial melanoma where literally the sun doesn't shine. I've seen that and a very challenging case and one that surprised all of us, first and foremost, the patient, but it was -- the patient was very, very fortunate. It was picked up and has done very well.

KAGAN: Again, catch it early.

On to Elizabeth's question. She writes in, "I have had dozens of sarcomas taken off. The druggist tells me that sunscreen causes cancers, too. So you pick your poison. Do you agree?"

Is that an urban myth, that sunscreen causes cancer?

PAPADOPOULOS: You know, I think there's been a lot that's been made recently of the fact that sunscreen can lead to the formation of skin cancer, and I think that that's not necessarily what the emphasis should be. Meaning, sunscreen in and by itself doesn't cause skin cancer. It's the habit that somebody develops as a result of using the sunscreen. Very often people feel like because they have sunscreen they can be out in the sun for long periods of time, and that is probably a mistake.

What we recommend to people is to be judicious, to be in a position where you use sunscreen but you follow those other basic principles like avoid the sun between the hours of 10 and 4, cover up, wear a hat.

So it isn't the cure-all. Sunscreen isn't a cure-all. It's one of the things that we recommend be done to protect yourself from the sun.

KAGAN: How do you know which number to get? I see the 8, the 15, the 30.

PAPADOPOULOS: I think a minimum of a 15 is important. After that point, I think sometimes people get lulled into thinking that because they're using a 60, let's say...

KAGAN: Knock yourself out in the sun.

PAPADOPOULOS: ... that they can just get out there. What I tell people is every two hours it needs to be reapplied, and if at all possible they need to avoid being in the sun, which I think is the most important factor.

KAGAN: On to Debbie in Virginia. She writes in, "I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma two years ago and never had a mole or anything that turned malignant. It was in my lymph nodes. I had no symptoms or signs until a swollen lymph node showed up on a CAT scan. How rare is this? What would be your guess as to the likelihood of this returning?"

So we're talking about unusual places for it showing up. We're not even talking about a surface skin.

PAPADOPOULOS: That's exactly right. Well, you know what? Melanoma, when it appears on your skin, has the ability to elicit an immunological response by your body. Your body wants to fight the melanoma.

So what it does is it attacks the melanoma, destroys the melanoma, but unfortunately, it may do that after the melanoma has spread. So what probably happened to this person is they did have a primary lesion...

KAGAN: Something somewhere.

PAPADOPOULOS: ... that the body destroyed after it had spread to her lymph node.

KAGAN: OK.

PAPADOPOULOS: So melanoma with lymph node involvement and an undetected primary lesion on the skin is uncommon, and I don't want to suggest that it's a very common thing. It's less than one percent of the patients we take care of it, but it can happen. That's probably what happened here.

KAGAN: So usually if someone comes into your office like that and they have lymph node involvement, you would be able to go over the body and say, this is the place where it started?

PAPADOPOULOS: Well, no.

KAGAN: No?

PAPADOPOULOS: Usually, if there's lymph node involvement, that means it's really a progressed disease. More often than not, yes, we will have detected a primary on the skin and we'll say, you know, this is the primary lesion. This is the melanoma, and oh, by the way, I'm detecting lymph nodes, and that's probably where it came from.

What the lady describes is something that's a very unusual circumstance. And so in answer to your question, yes, we would primarily see the primary lesion more frequently than not. In this circumstance this is a very unfortunate lady that had something pop up after the fact.

KAGAN: One more question here. This one is from Bobbie. She writes, "You mentioned the removal of skin cancer to be painless and effortless, but what about the cost? How much, generally?"

PAPADOPOULOS: I think that the cost is strictly dependent on the degree and the size of the skin cancer, meaning the more dangerous the skin cancer, the more extensive, the skin cancer in size, the greater the cost will be. The more invasive. If there's lymph node involvement, the more -- the much greater the cost in taking care of that particular patient.

KAGAN: If people want more information where should they go?

PAPADOPOULOS: There are multiple web sites. The AAD has a wonderful web site. The American Oncology...

KAGAN: That one's easy: AAD.org.

PAPADOPOULOS: AAD.org is American Academy of Dermatology. Www.SkinCancer.org. The American College of Mohs Micrographic Surgery and Oncology is a wonderful organization that deals with skin cancers by and large. And a personal favorite is the YouCanMakeADifference.info.

KAGAN: Why do you like that one?

PAPADOPOULOS: The reason is that the person that started this organization has a personal story that has touched all of us. Myself and Merrick Ross (ph) from N.B. Anderson (ph) are spokespeople for this organization, and we feel like it's a worthy effort for us to support.

KAGAN: Trying to make a difference and get the word out. Dr. Papadopoulos, thank you for your time.

PAPADOPOULOS: Thank you very much.

KAGAN: And go back and see all those patients waiting in your office.

PAPADOPOULOS: That's right. That's right.

KAGAN: Thank you.

Well, Hollywood is about fame, and it's all about spin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSIE O'DONNELL, COMEDIAN: We pay people to lie for us. They're called publicists.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KAGAN: Reputations and careers. Who makes sure that Hollywood stars shine? A closer look just ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: An update for you now on the oil pipeline explosion in Nigeria. Here's Carol Lin -- Carol.

LIN: Daryn CNN has confirmed the death toll there from this pipeline -- gas pipeline explosion. Between 150 and 200 people have died in this explosion. It is now approaching late afternoon in Nigeria. This happened a short while away from its largest city of Lagos. Just wanted to bring you those latest numbers, Daryn, the situation.

KAGAN: All right. Thank you, Carol.

Now we're going to look at videotape just shot at the White House. President Bush welcoming former and current secretaries of state and defense.

Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Current and former secretaries of state and former secretaries of defense on Iraq. And we also discussed the broader Middle East, as well.

I want to thank -- I want to thank you all very much for sharing your thoughts not only with me, but with the vice president and Secretary Rice and Secretary Rumsfeld. It really means a lot to -- to hear your thoughts and your concerns and your suggestions about the way forward in Iraq.

We've had our disagreements -- disagreements about whether or not we should be there in the first plains. Now the fundamental out this is how do we achieve our objective, which is a democracy which can defend itself, sustain itself, a country which is an ally in the war on terror, a country which serves as a powerful example for others' who desire to be free.

Since we last met they had -- a unity government is in the process of becoming formed. The -- I have great hopes about the unity government. The Shia as the prime ministers designee, the Sunnis as the speaker, the Kurd is the president, all of whom have dedicated themselves to a country moving forward that meets the hopes and aspirations of the Iraqi people.

There are certainly challenges, and the secretaries here discuss those challenges with us. Perhaps the main challenge is the militia that tend to take the law into their own hands. And it's going to be up for the government to step up and take care of that militia so that the Iraqi people are confident and -- in the security of their country. It's important to have a secure Iraq in order for people to go about their daily lives and we understand that. I also assured the secretaries here that this government's committed to success and we've got good people on the ground. We've got brave troops that are working every day to help this country succeed and at the same time deny safe haven to al Qaeda.

And again, I want to thank the members for coming, the former secretaries for coming. I think it's very useful for those of us who are helping to plot the strategies and the tactics to help secure this country to hear from you. I'm optimistic about our successes. I know this: the only way we will not succeed is if we lose our nerve, we don't have faith in our values and that we're constantly changing tactics on the ground to achieve our objectives.

So thank you for coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you all.

Thanks very much. Exit through the same door you came in, please.

Thanks. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: And that was President Bush speaking from the White House. He welcomed former secretaries of defense and state. President Bush first did an event like this a couple of months ago after there was criticism that he wasn't listening to voices outside of his administration. He focused mainly his comments there talking about the war in Iraq.

Let's move on to business news now. High gas prices are forcing some states to get creative when it comes to easing pain at the pump. Stephanie Elam joins us from the New York Stock Exchange with more on that.

Stephanie, good morning.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn.

That's right. When you have a gallon of gas costing more than $3 in a lot of places, several states are now proposing trimming gasoline taxes and getting rid of them entirely. The governments of Maryland, South Carolina and Connecticut have all flowed to the idea. There's also been state legislators talking about it in Georgia, New York and also Nevada. And in Texas, Minnesota and Delaware as well as Idaho, the idea has been batted around, as well.

Now unlike the proposal for a windfall tax on the oil companies, the gas tax is one part of the cost of the pump that the states can control. On average, states add about 27 1/2 cents to each gallon of gas, on top of the federal government's 18.4 percent tax, or four cents tax, I could say there.

But even if the states do suspend their gas taxes, drivers may not notice it as much if gas prices continue to rise this summer. And of course, they are expected to do just that, Daryn.

KAGAN: Stephanie Elam at the New York Stock Exchange. Thank you for that.

I want to go to this developing story out of Lagos, Nigeria, a huge oil pipeline gas explosion. Between 150 and 200 people have been killed in that.

Our Jeff Koinange is in Lagos with more -- Jeff.

JEFF KOINANGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Daryn.

And we're hearing from the police commissioner that the explosion of -- on the pipeline right off of Lagos island, a place called Snake Island actually, about a half hour's boat ride up of the coast of Nigeria, exploded late last night and killed up to 200 people and injured several hundred more.

This is a very common occurrence here in Nigeria when there's an explosion of this kind, of vandals going in trying to steal petrol, petroleum products. And what happened is either a spark goes up, a cigarette goes up or a motorcycle backs up and a spark just hits the pipeline and explodes. And it seems like these people were literally incinerated almost instantly, Daryn.

KAGAN: There's been news in recent weeks of militants targeting Nigeria's oil industry. So there was not a thought that this would be another act like this?

KOINANGE: It doesn't look like it, Daryn. Only because the militants target the southern cities, mostly Port Harcourt or those oil areas. This was just a pipeline that supplies fuel into the commercial capital Lagos, so it doesn't seem like the militants. More like vandals and it looks like many of them may have paid the ultimate price -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Jeff Koinange, live on the phone from Lagos, Nigeria, thank you.

Back here in the U.S., Hayden is on the Hill. The nominee for CIA chief meets the senators. Will the phone records flap be a hang- up for General Hayden? Details on that ahead.

Also red-hot celebrities: behind the glitz, the power players, the image makers, the ego groomers. We're talking Hollywood, an inside peek just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: What's the gossip? Who's got the scoop? We are starved for news about Hollywood's rich and famous. This weekend, "CNN PRESENTS" goes behind the scenes. It's a look at the power players behind the stars. CNN's Kyra Phillips has a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

O'DONNELL: Hi, everyone. Happy 100th show!

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): February 13, 11:15 a.m., Martha's 100th daytime show comes to a close. Rosie and her publicist, Cindy Berger, head back to the green room for a quick good- bye.

CINDY BERGER, PUBLICIST: Thank you so much. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And a quick aside.

O'DONNELL: "CNN PRESENTS". Fame, publicists, do they spin? What do you think?

A tad.

BERGER: Spin is moving something in a direction that you want it to go.

O'DONNELL: We pay people to lie for us, really. They're called publicists.

PHILLIPS: In a career that's spanned more than two decades, Cindy's certainly been through the spin cycle.

O'DONNELL: Sharon Stone? Are you divorcing anyone? That's enough.

There was a brief period when Cindy was actually the publicity for Star Jones. Can I just say something? It didn't work out well for me.

Cindy was the one that represented the divas, so when I had the talk show, whenever there was a huge diva like Mariah you'd always see cinder Berger. And I was like, "Oh, that one. She's always -- she's got the hardest women."

PHILLIPS: From 1997 to 2004, Cindy represented the biggest- selling female recording artist of all time. She's now Billboard's brightest, but a few years ago Mariah Carey was a glittery mess.

MARIAH CAREY, SINGER: I don't want to upset everybody.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You've got another, like, two minutes.

CAREY: OK, cool. I'm fine.

PHILLIPS: In July 2001, during promotion for the disastrous "Glitter" album and motion picture, Mariah melted down. There was the infamous striptease on MTV.

CARSON DALY, FORMER HOST, MTV'S "TOTAL REQUEST LIVE": What are you doing? Oh, my God.

PHILLIPS: And those strange public appearances, including one that came to a screeching halt.

CAREY: We're all just living in the moment of being positive and there's like people called haters.

No, Cindy.

BERGER: Let's go. Let's go.

CAREY: And we give them positivity. You see, I can't even have a few minutes.

BERGER: Bye.

O'DONNELL: I think Mariah to this day is still angry, but frankly, one day, she'll thank Cindy for that, because Mariah was not really in any state to be on TV at that point.

PHILLIPS: Two days after Cindy forcibly unplugged an incoherent Carey, the superstar entered a psychiatric facility. Berger's official explanation?

BERGER: She was exhausted.

PETER CASTRO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "PEOPLE" MAGAZINE: The publicist's best friend is the word exhaustion. That can mean so many things.

BERGER: She is so disciplined. Her level of work that she puts forth took its toll.

CASTRO: Was it just exhaustion? Probably not, but it was a hiccup in her career, and she has moved on. And Cindy Berger had a lot to do with that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: All right. You want to learn more? I do after watching that piece. You can see them this weekend. From publicists to the paparazzi a behind the scenes look at celebrity life. "CNN PRESENTS: CHASING ANGELINA, PAPARAZZI AND CELEBRITY OBSESSION". That's Saturday and Sunday at 8 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN.

So do you floss? That's the question this morning. We have a new survey about flossing. You're not going believe this. You're not going believe what some people stick between their teeth. I'll leave it at that.

OK. Ditch the cake. Celebrate the steak. A restaurant marks a meaty milestone ahead on LIVE TODAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAGAN: Don't you love that Peter, Paul and Mary song? You're leaving on a jet plane, but the big question is, is your luggage coming with you? The odds improve if you use one of the world's busiest airports, believe it or not. It's also apparently one of the most innovative.

CNN's Richard Quest explains. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hong Kong International Airport, gateway to Asia and home to a technological revolution. To the 40 million passengers a year who check in at HKIA, which was voted the world's best airport in 2005, lost and missing bags are slowly becoming a thing of the past, because on each package tag there's a microchip. It has all of the details the airport needs to know to get your luggage safely from A to B.

It's called radio frequency identification tagging, RFID to those in the business. Phase one of the tagging system at HKIA cost $6.5 million, and it set a precedent for testing and implementation in other airports worldwide.

YIU FAI WONG, TECHNICAL SERVICES, HKIA: This is the typical RFID label, what we call and actually the chip is in the middle. This is where the intelligence is.

QUEST: But what's so different between RFID and bar coding?

ANTHONY COUNCIL, INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION: If you have a misplaced piece of baggage today, someone has to go out and physically stand next to it or the bag has to pass physically in front of a reader before we know where the bag is. What RFID will do is that the bag proactively says, "I'm here," and then we can go out and find it much more quickly.

QUEST: RFID offers some beguiling benefits to carriers, such as bulk scanning, a much higher reading accuracy, 99 percent could become the norm. And the companies behind the new technology stress how easily it can be integrated within the existing baggage structure.

ELIE SIMON, CEO, TAGSYS: The beauty of RFID is that nothing has to change in order to introduce this process into airports. It's just we simply add a little bit of electronics on the luggage tag and we put reading systems station all the way through.

QUEST: Little tags, lots of electronics, they don't come cheap. And that's slowing down the implementation. The tag costs around 10 cents. Then there's the capital investments: scanners on each carousel, check-in desks and those transit points. They're all big capital items at a time when efficiency and cost-cutting are the buzz words.

Richard Quest, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAGAN: Shocking story just ahead where a cop kills a killer. To some he's a hero. To others he deserves his punishment. You'll judge for yourself. It's all on tape as CNN LIVE TODAY continues.

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