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CNN 10
Efforts Ramp Up To Restock Baby Formula In America; Efforts To Rebuild An Important Bridge Are Delayed; Efforts To Save Andean Condors Make Progress. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired May 18, 2022 - 04:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hi. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN 10.
It could be two months or more before stores across America are fully restocked on baby formula. That`s according to Abbott Laboratories, one of
the biggest formula suppliers in America.
Empty shelves and deeply worried parents have become common in the U.S. this year. The nationwide shortage actually dates back to 2020, according
to the "Reuters News Agency".
Parents reportedly bought up extra supplies of formula as the COVID pandemic sank in. Since then, changes in availability, demand and supply
chain problems have affected the amount of formula for sale.
But the problem got really bad starting in February. That`s when Abbott Nutrition recalled huge amounts of formula after four babies got sick
reportedly after being fed products that were made at an Abbott plant. The company says there`s no conclusive evidence that its formula caused the
illnesses, but the U.S. government said Abbott didn`t do enough to keep its products from getting contaminated when they were manufactured at the
plant. And since February, Abbott hasn`t been able to restart production there without the green light from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
This week, the company and the U.S. government said they`d reached an agreement that may lead to the plant`s reopening. That could happen in two
weeks. It might still be a month or more before the formula it makes there actually reaches store shelves. In the meantime, some other companies like
Nestle say they`re flying in some baby formula made outside the United States.
The government has strict limits on imports of formula. That`s another part of the reason for the shortage. But the White House says it`s having
conversations with major manufacturers about how to get more of their products in stores.
Some experts say supply chain problems whether they`re related to formula or other products are likely to continue throughout this year. And even if
issues with manufacturing shipping and shipping containers, trucking and warehousing all get resolved, there are still problems with some of the
roads and bridges that transporters use.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUKE HAYDEN, VICE PRESIDENT, M&M CARTAGE CO.: Business is busy. Business is very busy.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Twenty-five-year-old Luke Hayden is in line to one day run the family trucking company but also
inherit a problem, a bridge that is putting the brakes on business.
HAYDEN: It`s very tight. It`s very accident prone. So effects would be huge for our industry.
MUNTEAN: Cincinnati`s Brent Spence Bridge carries times the trucks and twice the cars that it was designed to handle when it opened 60 years ago.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That bridge, if you really want to go to Kentucky, is going to get better.
MUNTEAN: President Biden says help will come from the bipartisan infrastructure law. But six months after it was signed, work here has not
started.
MARK POLICINSKI, OHIO-KENTUCKY-INDIANA REGIONAL COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS: It is the poster child what needs to be done in infrastructure in this nation.
MUNTEAN: Cincinnati officials went $2 billion federal dollars to build a new neighboring bridge. They hope to break ground next year.
POLICINSKI: It`s going to be dramatic difference. It will solve a huge part of all the congestion in this region.
MUNTEAN: The infrastructure law sets aside $40 billion to help ailing bridges. The administration points to work that has already started, on
4,300 other infrastructure projects. But the White House stresses, getting larger projects moving takes time, even though the clock is ticking for
some 46,000 bridges in the U.S., rated as structurally deficient, that drivers cross each day.
ANDY HERRMANN, AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS: They have to be patient. It`s -- you know, there`s engineering involved. There`s design
involved that has to be done to make sure we do these jobs right.
MUNTEAN: When visiting Cincinnati earlier this month, President Biden became the third president to say the Brent Spence Bridge must be fixed.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: It`s in such poor condition that it`s been labeled functionally obsolete.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT: Replacing the Brent Spence Bridge in Cincinnati. Do you like that? Which is critical to the region.
MUNTEAN: Regional officials insist this time, there is a real sense of optimism.
For Luke Hayden, he says the can should not get kicked to another generation of the family business.
HAYDEN: It is an exercise in patience. You know, things don`t happen overnight. You know, you can`t build a bridge in a day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ (voice-over): Ten-second trivia:
Which of these birds has the widest wingspan?
Andean condor, California condor, Himalayan vulture or Trumpeter swan?
On top of the perch here is the Andean condor, whose wingspan is greater than 10 feet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: Several countries along South America`s Andes mountain chain are involved in conserving Andean condors. They`re not an endangered species
but their numbers are believed to be decreasing.
Part of the reason: as vultures, these birds are scavengers. They eat other animals that have died and if those animals have been poisoned, that poison
also becomes a threat to the condors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REPORTER: High on a hilltop in the Andes, a moment of transcendence is about to take place.
NORBERTO LUIS JACOME, PRESIDENT, ARGENTINE BIOANDEAN FOUNDATION (through translator): When the condor takes flight, all of us feel like we`d rise
with him.
REPORTER: This Andean condor has been bred in captivity and never flown before. Now, it`s doing it with an audience to celebrate its release into
the wild.
JACOME: The connection with an iconic species for thousands of years has inspired man to look up at the sky and connect with the sacred.
REPORTER: It`s the life`s work of Argentinian biologist Norberto Luis Jacome.
JACOME: Our mission is to conserve the Andean condor and through the condor to reconnect people with nature.
REPORTER: Endemic to South America, numbers of these soaring birds are plummeting across the continent. Sometimes mistaken for predators, they
face threats from human activities like hunting poisoning from toxic baits.
JACOME: Many condors come down to eat dead animals to fulfill their role of scavenger. They ingest lead bullets and lead kills them.
REPORTER: With a wingspan of up to feet these giant birds are slow to reproduce. So Jacome and his team developed a captive breeding program at
the Buenos Aires Eco Park. They take one egg from a breeding pair which prompts the condors to produce a second egg shortly after, ensuring all the
eggs aren`t in one basket.
JACOME: So the second egg is raised by the couple. We can get two chicks for each couple per year, when in reality, condors would have one offspring
every three years.
REPORTER: After two months of careful monitoring, a tiny miracle. If needed, the chicks receive a helping hand to break free.
Caring for newborn chicks while ensuring they don`t become attached to humans requires thinking outside the box.
JACOME: All the contact that the fledgling has here will be through latex puppets that represent its parents. At that moment, you are the father. You
are the mother. You are responsible for that life.
REPORTER: Jacome says the program has raised chicks and rescued and released hundreds of condors throughout South America. But an increase in
poisoning has killed 150 condors in just the past two years.
JACOME: It means that a whole effort, a lifetime of 30 years is not enough if we do not change that relationship we have with the environment.
REPORTER: Here, Jacome and his team celebrates the release of the condors with the Mapuches and Tehuelches communities, who have long had reverence
for this bird. As part of a traditional ceremony, the event is transformed from the scientific to the spirituals.
JACOME: It opens hearts. It opens people`s minds. And people quickly in a practical way understand why we should take care of Mother Nature.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
AZUZ: Nothing grows on the moon but could something grow in lunar soil. That`s what scientists at the University of Florida recently tried to do in
a study funded by NASA. The soil was taken from the moon`s surface during the Apollo missions and the good news is a plant related to mustard greens
did sprout within days.
The bad news it had stunted leaves and roots a reddish color and was generally less healthy than plants grown in earthly soil.
Does it seed the need for a future way to feed the astronaut to heed to space sod to see or will it fail to take root if that root is tried upon a
rocket lunch instead of fruit that`s freeze dried, they`ll have to decide if they can it or they ban it, if the lunar salad bar is lower than
scientists planet.
Maybe that got off the ground, maybe it crashed and burned. Either way, we`re happy you`re watching.
Shout-out goes to Juniper Hills High School today. Our viewers in Nampa, Idaho. I`m Carl Azuz.
END
