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American Morning

Yet Another Pain Reliever Under Close Scrutiny Today; Surprise Trip to Baghdad for Tony Blair

Aired December 21, 2004 - 07:00   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.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yet another pain reliever under close scrutiny today, this one over the counter. What are the dangers? What do you need to know? And what is going on out there? In the case of the stolen baby, the suspect's husband is now speaking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart ain't broke just for me and Lisa and her kids; it's for them too. That was precious baby. I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Two families struggling, but this morning good signs the baby is getting stronger.

And the sudden cold snap snaps, at least for now anyway, and getting ready for round two, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.

HEMMER: Good morning, everybody, on a Tuesday, 7:00 here in New York. I'm Bill Hemmer. Good to have you with us today. Soledad is out today. But in a moment here, much more on these brand-new health warnings about Aleve and also the latest on the stolen baby. We're talking to a representative from the hospital where tiny Victoria Jo Stinnett has been recovering. She's now been released as of yesterday. We'll talk about her condition and how she is doing, and also how the families are reacting through all of this.

And the president speaking with reporters yesterday refined his position on the situation in Iraq, saying that suicide bombers, the insurgents, are having an effect there. We'll talk about whether or not this is a new signal from the White House and how that is being read.

I mentioned Soledad is out. Kelly Wallace here with us.

Good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again. Great to be here.

HEMMER: Nice to see you. And Jack Cafferty as well.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Merry Christmas, or happy holidays? It's a problem in some parts of this country, but should it be? And is political correctness slowly stealing Christmas away from the United States? We'll take a look.

HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Jack, for that.

First the news from Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks, Bill.

Now in the news, a surprise trip to Baghdad for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It is his first visit to the Iraqi capital. He arrived just about four hours ago.

Let's go to CNN's Karl Penhaul who is in Baghdad.

Karl, good morning to you. What is the latest from there?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Kelly.

Well, of course Mr. Blair had visited Iraq before to see the British troops in the south of Iraq, but yes, this was his first visit to the capital. And he flew from Baghdad International Airport to his meeting his Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in the green zone. And at a press conference, he said that enabled him to sense the very real dangers present in Baghdad. He said that he had a much better feel for the difficulties and challenges facing Iraq as it tries to prepare for those January 30th elections.

And the elections of course, as well as the security situation, featuring heavily in his conversations with Mr. Allawi and his cabinet. Though he did say, along with Mr. Allawi, that the fight against the insurgents would prevail, and they did have every confidence that those elections would be held on time.

Mr. Blair characterized the current climate violence as a fight between democcracy and terror. The insurgents of course here have a very different way. They describe it as a fight between Iraqis and the occupiers. But Mr. Blair said that Britain and U.S. would stand very close to Iraq and try to deal a blow to insurgents here, and he said that would be equivalent to dealing a blow to terrorism worldwide -- Kelly.

WALLACE: OK, Karl, thanks so much. Karl Pennhaul reporting this morning from Baghdad.

Now to a new warning about the pain reliever Naproxene, also known as Aleve. Researchers found a link between the drug and increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. The Food and Drug Administration is cautioning users readers to read instructions carefully and avoid using the drug longer than the recommended 10 days. Bill has much more on this coming up.

Police in West Virginia are looking for the motive in the killing of a multimillionaire's granddaughter. Jack Whittaker won the largest single lottery jackpot in U.S. history two years ago, almost $315 million. Authorities say the body of his 17-year-old granddaughter was found yesterday, nearly two weeks after her disappearance. Whitaker himself has had several brushes with the law since he won that big prize.

And Harry Potter fans, stay tuned, we're expected to find out today the release date for the newest book in the series. It is the sixth "Potter" book for author J.K. Rowling. The author says one of her characters is not going to survive the latest saga, called "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Bill, you can imagine, Harry Potter fans not happy about that.

HEMMER: A heck of a tease, though. I think she's going to strike gold again, though.

WALLACE: I think you're absolutely right there.

HEMMER: For the sixth time.

WALLACE: Exactly.

HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

HEMMER: Funeral services will be held today for the Missouri woman whose baby was cut from her womb. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Jo Stinnett was killed in her Skidmore, Missouri home on Thursday. The husband of Lisa Montgomery, the woman charged in the strangling death, made some emotional comments yesterday, outside the courthouse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MONTGOMERY, SUSPECT'S HUSBAND: My heart ain't broke just for me and Lisa and her kids; it's for them too. That was precious baby. I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: And the baby, Victoria Jo Stinnett, has now been discharged from a health center in Topeka, Kansas. She's vice president of Stormont-Vail Healthcare, about the baby's condition now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL WHEELER, V.P., STORMONT-VAIL HEALTHCARE: She was in remarkably good condition, given all that she's been through. We really don't feel that she's going to need any particular extra care at this point in time.

HEMMER: And what was the condition of the baby when she arrived?

WHEELER: When she arrived, she was also in very good condition, which was a little bit surprising to us, in that normally infants born one month prematurely would have been in an intensive care setting and being observed by medical professionals. Of course, that didn't happen with this baby for the first 24 hours. But clearly, she was a very healthy fetus, and had done really quite well during that first 24 hours.

HEMMER: Even though she was premature, no additional complications then, is that right, Carol?

WHEELER: That's correct. And we don't expect her to have any.

HEMMER: The pastor described the baby as beautiful. He held her for a period of about 15 minutes on last Friday, at the end of last week. He also described a bruise on her hand and a scratch on her head. Were you aware of these possible injuries, and if so, were they significant to any to degree?

WHEELER: You know, I don't believe they were. I don't recall that. The neonatologist certainly didn't speak about those as being anything at all to be concerned about?

HEMMER: How has it been around the hospital with this story and this baby coming to you in the way she did?

WHEELER: Well, as you can imagine, it's consumed a lot of our time, a lot of media interest, which we can certainly understand.

We, however, treat premature infants everyday in this hospital. Our neonatal intensive care unit, at any given day, will have 25, 26 babies in it. And this baby was not treated in any way differently than any of our other patients would have been treated. Our nurses and our neonatologists are just dedicated to the care of these patients and to their families.

HEMMER: You mentioned the families. Can you tell us how they're doing, Carol?

WHEELER: When I spoke with them over the last couple of days, I was touched by how well they were doing. As you can imagine, Bill, the emotions have run the gamut for them. First of all, the joy at the birth of this baby and being reunited with her, then tempered somewhat, of course, by the grief they're experience at the tragic loss of Victoria Jo's mother. But they're doing well, I think, given the circumstance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Out of Topeka, Kansas, that's Carol Wheeler, vice president of the Stormont-Veil regional health center there in Kansas.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: From Maryland today, authorities have arrested two more men in a major arson case there. This is a story we followed now for month. Six suspects, in all, now facing charges, accused of setting a series of fires at a suburban Washington housing development. Those blazes destroyed at least 10 homes, damaged numerous others, estimated cost $10 million. We'll more on this development in the case a bit later in the hour here.

From Washington State, seven people in the hospital after a car tore through a crowded store, sending holiday shoppers scrambling literally. A Lincoln Town Car, driven by a 67-year-old man ran, through the front of a store in Pualab (ph) yesterday. The sheriff's department said the man put the car in reverse and the throttle got stuck. The care ended up about 150 feet inside the store. One woman was severely hurt. Again, that in the state of Washington.

In a moment, what's the difference between celebrating Christmas and promoting religion? Jeff Toobin stops in on the reindeer rule there.

And Howard Stern made waves in 2004 by announcing a switch to satellite radio. But the man who's going with him could make an even bigger impact. He's our guest in a moment, and they've got the goods.

And next, another painkiller linked to heart problems. But is it much ado about nothing? How much do you need to know? The author of "Overdose America" my guest in a moment, as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: The FDA now warning patients about the risks in the popular over-the-counter painkiller Naproxen, sold under the brand name Aleve. Government researchers ended a study that revealed a dramatic increase in heart attacks and strokes.

Dr. John Abramson is a medical school professor from Harvard, the author of "Overdosed America." He's also my guest this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Doctor, good to have you, and good morning to you.

DR. JOHN ABRAMSON, AUTHOR, "OVERDOSED AMERICA": Good morning, Bill. How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing fine.

Different day, different drug, what's going on out there? Can you make sense of it for us?

ABRAMSON: Well, I think I can. I think what we've got is like three dominoes that are falling down. The first domino that fell was at the end of September when Vioxx was found to cause significantly more heart attacks and strokes than placebos, in a study designed to see if Vioxx would suppress colon polyps. Now Vioxx -- there was a track record of cardiovascular risk and doubt about Vioxx. So that made sense when we saw that result.

The next was domino that fell was Celebrex, when we saw that Celebrex in one study increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Now that made sense in a way, because it's a Cox-2 inhibitor, and it may increase the clotting tendency of the blood, but we hadn't seen those studies before showing the cardiovascular risk in Celebrex.

The final domino that fell was Naproxen. The study was really opened, stopped because of concerns about Celebrex. And when the study was stopped, it was found that Naproxen was causing more heart attacks and strokes than placebo.

Now there is no theoretical basis for this. And it may well be, this is like flipping a coin 10 times and having it come up heads six or seven times, just being a random event.

HEMMER: So it comes in threes apparently, too, with the drug companies, specifically for Naproxen, if you're taking it, and if they say you should not exceed the recommended dosage, should you be taking this at all until you get more information?

ABRAMSON: Bill, it's unlikely that history is going to show us this is a serious problem. I think, for the time being, we ought to have caution. The nonprescription dose of Naproxen or Aleve is one tablet twice a day, and the cautious approach right now is to take no more than that, and to take it for no more than 10 days duration.

HEMMER: We were speaking in our morning meeting today whether or not people take the recommended dosage they need or whether or not they just feel they take the amount they need at a time. Through your studies, what do you find about the consumer side of that?

ABRAMSON: Well, I think most of the consumer side, Bill, is driven by the advertisements. We've seen so many advertisements for Vioxx and Celebrex. It's important to remember that there really is an issue here, that doctors and patients were presented with a misleading picture of Celebrex and Vioxx. Neither drug provides better relief for arthritis pain. Neither drug is safer than the alternatives.

The real core problem here is that the full information the drug companies knew and the FDA knew wasn't shared with customers. Now, I think it's spilling over into a generalized concern about all drugs. I think we need to go back to the real problem, which is making sure that doctors and patients have the best possible information about our prescription drugs.

HEMMER: Yes, but what you're saying, that could be quite alarming what you're saying there, if you don't have the full amount of information.

ABRAMSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And the really most alarming part of it, is even our best medical journals, "The New England Journal of Medicine" and "The Journal of the American Medical Association," where the scientific data was presented, key elements of the scientific data were left out. So even the most dedicated doctors couldn't know the truth about these drugs. That's the real problem we need to fix, Bill. As this crisis is now open, it's like the patient is on the operating table, and this is the problem we need to fix.

HEMMER: You've given us a lot to think about. Thank you, doctor. John Abramson there, our guest in Watertown, Massachusetts. Thanks for your time today.

ABRAMSON: Pleasure to be with you, Bill.

HEMMER: Also, next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk with the FDA drug safety researchers, Dr. David Graham, our guest there next hour. In the meantime, though, about 18 minutes past the hour here.

If you recently purchased some holiday cookies, listen up here, Archway is recalling its 10-ounce cookies of holiday cashew nuggets (ph) cookies because that may contain -- get this now -- they may contain glass. The sell dates are February and March of 2005. Archway now recommending customers return for a full refund. The heads-up is out there, so pay attention there.

In a moment here also, the drug warnings are painful pill to swallow on Wall Street. How long will the side effects last there? Andy checks in, "Minding Your Business" in a moment here, as we continue, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All right, welcome back, everybody. Naproxen warning, yet another bad dose of news for investors and advertisers. Andy checks in new, first check of "Minding Your Business" on this Tuesday morning. Good morning to you.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Bill.

Wall Street is all abuzz over the implications of these drug companies' woes. And obviously, this is very big news, not only for patients and doctors, but for investors as well. You know, drug stocks used to be some of the safest investments that you could make. They were steady. They grew. You had the demographics at your back, in terms of the aging population. But now, a lot of people on Wall Street are calling all that into question. And drug stocks have been terrible performers for the year.

In fact, the two biggies in the news lately, Merck and Pfizer, down 32 percent year-to-date. You can see here's Pfizer fizzling. And Merck, they used to call it Sir Merck, in the same boat. Bayer, by the way, is the company that makes Aleve. That's a German company, the same company that makes Aspirin. Their shares are down in early trading.

And of course there's collateral as well, because drug companies have been huge advertisers on television. You've seen them on this network, their ads, as well as magazines. For instance, Pfizer was going to be spending $82 million in advertising this year. And you know, that's called into question. And these companies overall spend billions and billions of dollars. The whole notion of blockbusters, Bill, blockbuster drugs, a lot of people are wondering, you know, is that business model going to hold steady going forward, so still a lot to sort out from a Wall Street perspective.

HEMMER: You talk about the collateral damage, too, and mention the Dow, too. The drag has been on that as well.

SERWER: That's right, because Merck and Pfizer are both Dow stocks.

HEMMER: Exactly. Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: How about the Question of the Day? And Jack has a good one hear, too.

CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.

Merry Christmas versus happy holidays. Every December it comes to this, worrying about the acceptable way to give somebody a Christmas greeting without offending their religious sensibilities. The conflict seems to be reaching a fever pitch this year. There's the usual example of schools that censor Christmas carols . There's a school chorus in Chicago that sings "we wish you a swinging holiday" instead of "we wish you a merry Christmas," towns that insist their Christmas tree be called a holiday tree.

But this year, there is also a large public outcry against secularizing Christmas. A lot of Christian activist, looking at the heavy turnout of values voters in the last election, are lobbying businesses, schools and towns to include Christian symbols and messages in holiday displays. Note: 75 percent of Americans are Christian. Here's the question, are we slowly losing Christmas to political correctness?

HEMMER: Love this topic. What's the story in New Jersey about you can sing "Jingle Bells" but you can't sing "Silent Night." There's a school system now that's trying to sort out what songs are appropriate, which are not.

CAFFERTY: In New Jersey, they may not know the words to either of those.

SERWER: And he lives there, so he can say that.

But isn't there a reasonable way to handle that? I mean, you do bunch of a Christmas song, maybe you do a few Hanukkah songs, maybe you do a Kwanzaa song, maybe you can throw Ramadan in even if you want to.

HEMMER: But what is the holiday? What is December 25th? What does it commemorate?

SERWER: The birth of Christ.

CAFFERTY: What does that have to do with Kwanzaa and all the other stuff?

SERWER: I Kwanzaa is around same time and Hanukkah's around the same time.

CAFFERTY: What is December 25th?

SERWER: You don't have to get politically correct about it, but these others holidays fall at the same time. So you can sing those songs at holiday assemblies, at schools, for instance. You can sing all these songs, but you don't have to change these songs to get politically correct.

HEMMER: There's this thing called the Reindeer Rule that I just discovered last night as a matter of fact. It's about the sharing of the holidays within the proximity of one another.

And Jeff Toobin has been looking into the legal side of -- there are lawsuits all across the country about this. Whoa. There are lawsuits all across the country about this, and Jeff's going to join us to talk about in a moment.

CAFFERTY: Do you touch him when he comes on?

SERWER: In the morning.

HEMMER: He shakes my hand.

My man!

In a moment here, Howard Stern grabbing the headlines. His next boss, though, could make an even bigger impact on radio this year. Our year-end series they've got the goods in a moment here.

Also, out with the old and win the new. President Bush outlines his plans for 2005. Live to the White House when we continue, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: Here's a reminder for you. Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at CNN.com/am, there for you 24 hours a day.

In a moment, has the season of giving become the season of suing? Jeff Toobin look at the politics of the holidays and Christmas, in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired December 21, 2004 - 07:00   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Yet another pain reliever under close scrutiny today, this one over the counter. What are the dangers? What do you need to know? And what is going on out there? In the case of the stolen baby, the suspect's husband is now speaking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My heart ain't broke just for me and Lisa and her kids; it's for them too. That was precious baby. I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: Two families struggling, but this morning good signs the baby is getting stronger.

And the sudden cold snap snaps, at least for now anyway, and getting ready for round two, on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ANNOUNCER: From the CNN Broadcast Center in New York, this is AMERICAN MORNING, with Bill Hemmer and Soledad O'Brien.

HEMMER: Good morning, everybody, on a Tuesday, 7:00 here in New York. I'm Bill Hemmer. Good to have you with us today. Soledad is out today. But in a moment here, much more on these brand-new health warnings about Aleve and also the latest on the stolen baby. We're talking to a representative from the hospital where tiny Victoria Jo Stinnett has been recovering. She's now been released as of yesterday. We'll talk about her condition and how she is doing, and also how the families are reacting through all of this.

And the president speaking with reporters yesterday refined his position on the situation in Iraq, saying that suicide bombers, the insurgents, are having an effect there. We'll talk about whether or not this is a new signal from the White House and how that is being read.

I mentioned Soledad is out. Kelly Wallace here with us.

Good morning to you.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning again. Great to be here.

HEMMER: Nice to see you. And Jack Cafferty as well.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Merry Christmas, or happy holidays? It's a problem in some parts of this country, but should it be? And is political correctness slowly stealing Christmas away from the United States? We'll take a look.

HEMMER: Good deal. Thank you, Jack, for that.

First the news from Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thanks, Bill.

Now in the news, a surprise trip to Baghdad for British Prime Minister Tony Blair. It is his first visit to the Iraqi capital. He arrived just about four hours ago.

Let's go to CNN's Karl Penhaul who is in Baghdad.

Karl, good morning to you. What is the latest from there?

KARL PENHAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there, Kelly.

Well, of course Mr. Blair had visited Iraq before to see the British troops in the south of Iraq, but yes, this was his first visit to the capital. And he flew from Baghdad International Airport to his meeting his Prime Minister Ayad Allawi in the green zone. And at a press conference, he said that enabled him to sense the very real dangers present in Baghdad. He said that he had a much better feel for the difficulties and challenges facing Iraq as it tries to prepare for those January 30th elections.

And the elections of course, as well as the security situation, featuring heavily in his conversations with Mr. Allawi and his cabinet. Though he did say, along with Mr. Allawi, that the fight against the insurgents would prevail, and they did have every confidence that those elections would be held on time.

Mr. Blair characterized the current climate violence as a fight between democcracy and terror. The insurgents of course here have a very different way. They describe it as a fight between Iraqis and the occupiers. But Mr. Blair said that Britain and U.S. would stand very close to Iraq and try to deal a blow to insurgents here, and he said that would be equivalent to dealing a blow to terrorism worldwide -- Kelly.

WALLACE: OK, Karl, thanks so much. Karl Pennhaul reporting this morning from Baghdad.

Now to a new warning about the pain reliever Naproxene, also known as Aleve. Researchers found a link between the drug and increased risk of heart attacks and stroke. The Food and Drug Administration is cautioning users readers to read instructions carefully and avoid using the drug longer than the recommended 10 days. Bill has much more on this coming up.

Police in West Virginia are looking for the motive in the killing of a multimillionaire's granddaughter. Jack Whittaker won the largest single lottery jackpot in U.S. history two years ago, almost $315 million. Authorities say the body of his 17-year-old granddaughter was found yesterday, nearly two weeks after her disappearance. Whitaker himself has had several brushes with the law since he won that big prize.

And Harry Potter fans, stay tuned, we're expected to find out today the release date for the newest book in the series. It is the sixth "Potter" book for author J.K. Rowling. The author says one of her characters is not going to survive the latest saga, called "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince."

Bill, you can imagine, Harry Potter fans not happy about that.

HEMMER: A heck of a tease, though. I think she's going to strike gold again, though.

WALLACE: I think you're absolutely right there.

HEMMER: For the sixth time.

WALLACE: Exactly.

HEMMER: Thank you, Kelly.

WALLACE: Sure.

HEMMER: Funeral services will be held today for the Missouri woman whose baby was cut from her womb. Twenty-three-year-old Bobby Jo Stinnett was killed in her Skidmore, Missouri home on Thursday. The husband of Lisa Montgomery, the woman charged in the strangling death, made some emotional comments yesterday, outside the courthouse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN MONTGOMERY, SUSPECT'S HUSBAND: My heart ain't broke just for me and Lisa and her kids; it's for them too. That was precious baby. I know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HEMMER: And the baby, Victoria Jo Stinnett, has now been discharged from a health center in Topeka, Kansas. She's vice president of Stormont-Vail Healthcare, about the baby's condition now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAROL WHEELER, V.P., STORMONT-VAIL HEALTHCARE: She was in remarkably good condition, given all that she's been through. We really don't feel that she's going to need any particular extra care at this point in time.

HEMMER: And what was the condition of the baby when she arrived?

WHEELER: When she arrived, she was also in very good condition, which was a little bit surprising to us, in that normally infants born one month prematurely would have been in an intensive care setting and being observed by medical professionals. Of course, that didn't happen with this baby for the first 24 hours. But clearly, she was a very healthy fetus, and had done really quite well during that first 24 hours.

HEMMER: Even though she was premature, no additional complications then, is that right, Carol?

WHEELER: That's correct. And we don't expect her to have any.

HEMMER: The pastor described the baby as beautiful. He held her for a period of about 15 minutes on last Friday, at the end of last week. He also described a bruise on her hand and a scratch on her head. Were you aware of these possible injuries, and if so, were they significant to any to degree?

WHEELER: You know, I don't believe they were. I don't recall that. The neonatologist certainly didn't speak about those as being anything at all to be concerned about?

HEMMER: How has it been around the hospital with this story and this baby coming to you in the way she did?

WHEELER: Well, as you can imagine, it's consumed a lot of our time, a lot of media interest, which we can certainly understand.

We, however, treat premature infants everyday in this hospital. Our neonatal intensive care unit, at any given day, will have 25, 26 babies in it. And this baby was not treated in any way differently than any of our other patients would have been treated. Our nurses and our neonatologists are just dedicated to the care of these patients and to their families.

HEMMER: You mentioned the families. Can you tell us how they're doing, Carol?

WHEELER: When I spoke with them over the last couple of days, I was touched by how well they were doing. As you can imagine, Bill, the emotions have run the gamut for them. First of all, the joy at the birth of this baby and being reunited with her, then tempered somewhat, of course, by the grief they're experience at the tragic loss of Victoria Jo's mother. But they're doing well, I think, given the circumstance.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Out of Topeka, Kansas, that's Carol Wheeler, vice president of the Stormont-Veil regional health center there in Kansas.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HEMMER: From Maryland today, authorities have arrested two more men in a major arson case there. This is a story we followed now for month. Six suspects, in all, now facing charges, accused of setting a series of fires at a suburban Washington housing development. Those blazes destroyed at least 10 homes, damaged numerous others, estimated cost $10 million. We'll more on this development in the case a bit later in the hour here.

From Washington State, seven people in the hospital after a car tore through a crowded store, sending holiday shoppers scrambling literally. A Lincoln Town Car, driven by a 67-year-old man ran, through the front of a store in Pualab (ph) yesterday. The sheriff's department said the man put the car in reverse and the throttle got stuck. The care ended up about 150 feet inside the store. One woman was severely hurt. Again, that in the state of Washington.

In a moment, what's the difference between celebrating Christmas and promoting religion? Jeff Toobin stops in on the reindeer rule there.

And Howard Stern made waves in 2004 by announcing a switch to satellite radio. But the man who's going with him could make an even bigger impact. He's our guest in a moment, and they've got the goods.

And next, another painkiller linked to heart problems. But is it much ado about nothing? How much do you need to know? The author of "Overdose America" my guest in a moment, as we continue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: The FDA now warning patients about the risks in the popular over-the-counter painkiller Naproxen, sold under the brand name Aleve. Government researchers ended a study that revealed a dramatic increase in heart attacks and strokes.

Dr. John Abramson is a medical school professor from Harvard, the author of "Overdosed America." He's also my guest this morning in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Doctor, good to have you, and good morning to you.

DR. JOHN ABRAMSON, AUTHOR, "OVERDOSED AMERICA": Good morning, Bill. How are you?

HEMMER: I'm doing fine.

Different day, different drug, what's going on out there? Can you make sense of it for us?

ABRAMSON: Well, I think I can. I think what we've got is like three dominoes that are falling down. The first domino that fell was at the end of September when Vioxx was found to cause significantly more heart attacks and strokes than placebos, in a study designed to see if Vioxx would suppress colon polyps. Now Vioxx -- there was a track record of cardiovascular risk and doubt about Vioxx. So that made sense when we saw that result.

The next was domino that fell was Celebrex, when we saw that Celebrex in one study increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Now that made sense in a way, because it's a Cox-2 inhibitor, and it may increase the clotting tendency of the blood, but we hadn't seen those studies before showing the cardiovascular risk in Celebrex.

The final domino that fell was Naproxen. The study was really opened, stopped because of concerns about Celebrex. And when the study was stopped, it was found that Naproxen was causing more heart attacks and strokes than placebo.

Now there is no theoretical basis for this. And it may well be, this is like flipping a coin 10 times and having it come up heads six or seven times, just being a random event.

HEMMER: So it comes in threes apparently, too, with the drug companies, specifically for Naproxen, if you're taking it, and if they say you should not exceed the recommended dosage, should you be taking this at all until you get more information?

ABRAMSON: Bill, it's unlikely that history is going to show us this is a serious problem. I think, for the time being, we ought to have caution. The nonprescription dose of Naproxen or Aleve is one tablet twice a day, and the cautious approach right now is to take no more than that, and to take it for no more than 10 days duration.

HEMMER: We were speaking in our morning meeting today whether or not people take the recommended dosage they need or whether or not they just feel they take the amount they need at a time. Through your studies, what do you find about the consumer side of that?

ABRAMSON: Well, I think most of the consumer side, Bill, is driven by the advertisements. We've seen so many advertisements for Vioxx and Celebrex. It's important to remember that there really is an issue here, that doctors and patients were presented with a misleading picture of Celebrex and Vioxx. Neither drug provides better relief for arthritis pain. Neither drug is safer than the alternatives.

The real core problem here is that the full information the drug companies knew and the FDA knew wasn't shared with customers. Now, I think it's spilling over into a generalized concern about all drugs. I think we need to go back to the real problem, which is making sure that doctors and patients have the best possible information about our prescription drugs.

HEMMER: Yes, but what you're saying, that could be quite alarming what you're saying there, if you don't have the full amount of information.

ABRAMSON: Absolutely. Absolutely. And the really most alarming part of it, is even our best medical journals, "The New England Journal of Medicine" and "The Journal of the American Medical Association," where the scientific data was presented, key elements of the scientific data were left out. So even the most dedicated doctors couldn't know the truth about these drugs. That's the real problem we need to fix, Bill. As this crisis is now open, it's like the patient is on the operating table, and this is the problem we need to fix.

HEMMER: You've given us a lot to think about. Thank you, doctor. John Abramson there, our guest in Watertown, Massachusetts. Thanks for your time today.

ABRAMSON: Pleasure to be with you, Bill.

HEMMER: Also, next hour here on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk with the FDA drug safety researchers, Dr. David Graham, our guest there next hour. In the meantime, though, about 18 minutes past the hour here.

If you recently purchased some holiday cookies, listen up here, Archway is recalling its 10-ounce cookies of holiday cashew nuggets (ph) cookies because that may contain -- get this now -- they may contain glass. The sell dates are February and March of 2005. Archway now recommending customers return for a full refund. The heads-up is out there, so pay attention there.

In a moment here also, the drug warnings are painful pill to swallow on Wall Street. How long will the side effects last there? Andy checks in, "Minding Your Business" in a moment here, as we continue, right after this.

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HEMMER: All right, welcome back, everybody. Naproxen warning, yet another bad dose of news for investors and advertisers. Andy checks in new, first check of "Minding Your Business" on this Tuesday morning. Good morning to you.

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" MAGAZINE: Good morning to you, Bill.

Wall Street is all abuzz over the implications of these drug companies' woes. And obviously, this is very big news, not only for patients and doctors, but for investors as well. You know, drug stocks used to be some of the safest investments that you could make. They were steady. They grew. You had the demographics at your back, in terms of the aging population. But now, a lot of people on Wall Street are calling all that into question. And drug stocks have been terrible performers for the year.

In fact, the two biggies in the news lately, Merck and Pfizer, down 32 percent year-to-date. You can see here's Pfizer fizzling. And Merck, they used to call it Sir Merck, in the same boat. Bayer, by the way, is the company that makes Aleve. That's a German company, the same company that makes Aspirin. Their shares are down in early trading.

And of course there's collateral as well, because drug companies have been huge advertisers on television. You've seen them on this network, their ads, as well as magazines. For instance, Pfizer was going to be spending $82 million in advertising this year. And you know, that's called into question. And these companies overall spend billions and billions of dollars. The whole notion of blockbusters, Bill, blockbuster drugs, a lot of people are wondering, you know, is that business model going to hold steady going forward, so still a lot to sort out from a Wall Street perspective.

HEMMER: You talk about the collateral damage, too, and mention the Dow, too. The drag has been on that as well.

SERWER: That's right, because Merck and Pfizer are both Dow stocks.

HEMMER: Exactly. Thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: How about the Question of the Day? And Jack has a good one hear, too.

CAFFERTY: Thank you, Bill.

Merry Christmas versus happy holidays. Every December it comes to this, worrying about the acceptable way to give somebody a Christmas greeting without offending their religious sensibilities. The conflict seems to be reaching a fever pitch this year. There's the usual example of schools that censor Christmas carols . There's a school chorus in Chicago that sings "we wish you a swinging holiday" instead of "we wish you a merry Christmas," towns that insist their Christmas tree be called a holiday tree.

But this year, there is also a large public outcry against secularizing Christmas. A lot of Christian activist, looking at the heavy turnout of values voters in the last election, are lobbying businesses, schools and towns to include Christian symbols and messages in holiday displays. Note: 75 percent of Americans are Christian. Here's the question, are we slowly losing Christmas to political correctness?

HEMMER: Love this topic. What's the story in New Jersey about you can sing "Jingle Bells" but you can't sing "Silent Night." There's a school system now that's trying to sort out what songs are appropriate, which are not.

CAFFERTY: In New Jersey, they may not know the words to either of those.

SERWER: And he lives there, so he can say that.

But isn't there a reasonable way to handle that? I mean, you do bunch of a Christmas song, maybe you do a few Hanukkah songs, maybe you do a Kwanzaa song, maybe you can throw Ramadan in even if you want to.

HEMMER: But what is the holiday? What is December 25th? What does it commemorate?

SERWER: The birth of Christ.

CAFFERTY: What does that have to do with Kwanzaa and all the other stuff?

SERWER: I Kwanzaa is around same time and Hanukkah's around the same time.

CAFFERTY: What is December 25th?

SERWER: You don't have to get politically correct about it, but these others holidays fall at the same time. So you can sing those songs at holiday assemblies, at schools, for instance. You can sing all these songs, but you don't have to change these songs to get politically correct.

HEMMER: There's this thing called the Reindeer Rule that I just discovered last night as a matter of fact. It's about the sharing of the holidays within the proximity of one another.

And Jeff Toobin has been looking into the legal side of -- there are lawsuits all across the country about this. Whoa. There are lawsuits all across the country about this, and Jeff's going to join us to talk about in a moment.

CAFFERTY: Do you touch him when he comes on?

SERWER: In the morning.

HEMMER: He shakes my hand.

My man!

In a moment here, Howard Stern grabbing the headlines. His next boss, though, could make an even bigger impact on radio this year. Our year-end series they've got the goods in a moment here.

Also, out with the old and win the new. President Bush outlines his plans for 2005. Live to the White House when we continue, right after this.

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HEMMER: Here's a reminder for you. Get the latest news every morning in your e-mail. Sign up for AMERICAN MORNING Quick News at CNN.com/am, there for you 24 hours a day.

In a moment, has the season of giving become the season of suing? Jeff Toobin look at the politics of the holidays and Christmas, in a moment.

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