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CNN STUDENT NEWS For August 8, 2002

Aired August 08, 2002 - 04:00   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.
ANNOUNCER: You're watching CNN STUDENT NEWS seen in schools around the world because learning never stops and neither does the news.

SHELLEY WALCOTT, CO-HOST: Time to take a check of the news. First up, twins at the center of a modern medical miracle.

SUSAN FREIDMAN, CO-HOST: Health still on the agenda in "Headlines" as we track the deadly West Nile virus.

WALCOTT: Then we put the pedal to the metal. Destination: our "Science Report" where we find a concept car that's cool and safe.

FREIDMAN: Next stop, Student Bureau. Meet some road trippers on a unique mission.

WALCOTT: It's Thursday, August 8. Welcome to the show. I'm Shelley Walcott.

FREIDMAN: And I'm Susan Freidman.

With the rare and complicated surgery behind them, the road to recovery lies ahead for two little girls.

WALCOTT: Earlier in the week, 1-year-old conjoined twins were separated in an operation in Los Angeles. The girls were born attached at the skull. Though they shared blood vessels and bone, they had separate brains. The surgery to separate the twins took 22 hours, and both girls are in critical but stable condition.

And as Gary Tuchman reports, doctors are optimistic about their recovery.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two 1-year-old girls happy and playful. The only life each has known has involved being attached head to head to the other. This was a bittersweet moment for their 20-year-old father, because Maria Teresa and Maria de Jesus were only minutes away from their momentous but risky surgery.

They were wheeled into the operating room, and the exhausting and pressure-packed surgery began. Day turned into night and night turned into day, and after some 22 hours, doctors had succeeded in separating these two sisters from Guatemala.

DR. MICHAEL KARPF, UCLA MEDICAL CENTER DIRECTOR: I think it went even better than I hoped for. We had serious concerns about what they would find when they actually saw the venous system, the veins, that they had to separate. Apparently, it was as they thought it was going to be. The separations went very smoothly, so, I couldn't have asked for better.

TUCHMAN: More than 50 doctors and nurses participated; also inside the operating room, medical students, including this man.

HOUMAN HEMMATI, MEDICAL STUDENT: It was very emotional. A lot of people were crying, the doctors, nurses alike, even the students, some of the cameramen had a couple of tears they had to brush off. So it was a very emotional sort of scene.

TUCHMAN: But there was a complication.

KARPF: At 9:17, Maria Teresa was taken back to the operating room to deal with a subdural hematoma.

TUCHMAN: Which is a collection of blood on the surface of the brain. The medical center director declared this was not entirely unexpected, and until the girls make it through several days, the situation is still life-threatening.

The doctors are doing their work for free. Medical expenses for the family are being picked up by the hospital, and the charitable group, Healing the Children, is providing financial help for the girls and their parents.

CHRIS EMBLETON, HEALING THE CHILDREN DIRECTOR: I truly believe that we are still going to have our miracle, and the only thing I would really ask the world to do is to pray for these little girls.

TUCHMAN (on camera): Little Maria Teresa underwent five hours of surgery for the hematoma, but doctors say it concluded successfully. So both little girls are now in critical but stable condition in intensive care, side by side, next to each other for the very first time.

Gary Tuchman, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: Officials are calling the latest outbreak of West Nile virus the worst ever in the U.S. More than 70 cases have been confirmed in Louisiana and 5 people there have died. The list of states reporting cases of the West Nile is growing. Illinois has confirmed its first human case, 22 others have been reported in Mississippi and 10 in Texas. Officials are spraying like crazy to try to control mosquitoes, which spread the virus. The problem is funds are running dry and officials warn mosquito season is still a long way from over.

CNN's Rea Blakey has more on this urgent battle. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REA BLAKEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The nation's largest outbreak of West Nile virus is expected to grow even larger.

DAVID HOOD, LOUISIANA DEPT., HEALTH & HOSPITALS: As long as the warm weather lasts here in Louisiana, I think we're going to be faced with this problem, and we're going to see an increasing number of cases. And unfortunately, probably some additional deaths as well.

BLAKEY: Louisiana's governor is asking the federal government for nearly $14 million in emergency money to fight the outbreak. The state's $6 million West Nile war chest is quickly being depleted. Combating the virus, which is spread by mosquitoes, means 24-7 insecticide spraying and laboratory testing.

Before Louisiana, the largest U.S. outbreak of West Nile occurred in New York in 1999. That was the first time the virus showed up in the U.S. By the end of that season 62 people were sickened, five died.

From New York the virus advanced each year, spreading to states along the Eastern Seaboard and into the south. It's now in 34 states and the District of Columbia. So far no documented activity west of a line that roughly extends from Winnipeg, Canada to Houston, Texas. But West Nile is expected to continue spreading west.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is warning Americans not to panic. The CDC says, of the people who are actually known to become infected with the virus, only about one in five will have any fever or other signs of the illness. And only one in 150 infected people will develop more serious complications.

Louisiana health officials, worried about overloading the system, say a mosquito bite is not enough reason to run to the doctor's office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's nothing you can do, we don't have a drug to kill the virus.

BLAKEY: Symptoms that should send you to the doctor include severe headache, sensitivity to light, fever, sometimes rash, and signs of mental confusion.

Reduce your risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito by wearing long, loose, light-colored clothing. Use insect repellent that contains the chemical DEET, 20 to 30 percent DEET for adults, under 10 percent for kids. And get rid of all standing water outside; that's where mosquitoes breed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: As you just heard, there are steps you can take to protect yourself from West Nile, but who should be most concerned?

Yesterday, CNN's Kyra Phillips spoke with a doctor from the Illinois Public Health Department. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: As we mentioned, Illinois is reporting its first human case of West Nile Virus.

Dr. John Lumpkin from the Illinois Public Health Department joins us once again to answer your e-mail questions, and we have a number of them, Dr. Lumpkin. Can we get right to it?

DR. JOHN LUMPKIN, ILLINOIS, DEPT. OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Sure.

PHILLIPS: OK, here we go, Lloyd Kay (ph) wants to know, "We river folks would like to know what chemical to spray and fog to help get rid of some of those mosquitoes."

LUMPKIN: Well, each locality has a different perspective in their mosquito abatement districts that do make a recommendation. So I would check with your local environmental protection agency or your local pest control agency.

PHILLIPS: Is there any kind of -- could we call our local pest control folks that come and spray for regular bugs every few months?

LUMPKIN: Well, it depends on where you live. If you live in a community that's incorporated, many of them have mosquito-abatement districts that have equipment. The problem is spraying only kills the adults for a couple of days. What happens is you have to treat the water to eliminate the larvae. Now the larvae, in that process of eliminating the larvae, called "larvaciding", is actually more environmentally friendly than doing the spraying.

PHILLIPS: Is it something we can do on our own, or in this case, is it very important to contact a legitimate company.

LUMPKIN: It is important to contact a legitimate company. You are dealing with very powerful chemicals, and what you have to do is spray them in what's called a low-dose method, and that requires specialized equipment.

PHILLIPS: OK. Brian from Canada wants it know, "What are some of the treatments for West Nile Virus if you are infected?"

LUMPKIN: Well, West Nile Virus, again is really a relatively mild disease in the vast majority of cases. Only one out of 200 cases of West Nile will go on to inflammation of the brain and swelling called encephalitis. West Nile Virus has no known treatment. What we do is we treat people for the symptoms, try to keep them alive while the body marshals its resources and fights it off itself.

PHILLIPS: And it's not a bacteria, so you can't use antibiotics, right?

LUMPKIN: That's correct, it is a virus, and there is no known treatment for it as of today. PHILLIPS: All right, Karen wants to know, "I would like to know if it is a specific species of mosquito that carries virus, or if it doesn't matter."

LUMPKIN: Well, the most common mosquito that carries is it the culex (ph) species of mosquito, known as common house mosquito. These mosquitoes hatch within containers of stagnant water, flower pots, and all those kinds of things around the home, and generally will only fly about a mile or so away from where they hatch. So these kinds of mosquitoes, the house mosquitoes, are the ones that are most likely to carry West Nile.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. Lumpkin, one more here. Joe Van G. (ph) from Austin, Texas: "While the death toll is significant, the fact remains that nine out of 10 people contracting West Nile Virus suffer flu-like symptoms and recover. Does the body manufacture antibodies against it?

LUMPKIN: Absolutely. That's the way the body fights it off. Once you are exposed to it, it really becomes a race, a race between the body's natural defenses, the antibodies that are produced, and the virus, replicating in the cells and trying to fight it. In the vast majority of the cases, the body wins. However, people who may be older or have altered immune systems, the body isn't quite as successful, and those are the rare cases where you see very severe illness.

PHILLIPS: I think you answered this question from Jose if Brooklyn, New York. He says, "Is it true that the West Nile Virus is only seriously lethal to the very young (like children) and the elderly?"

LUMPKIN: Well, generally, or someone who may have, because of cancer, chemotherapy or HIV, an immune system that isn't quite up to the battle.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dr. John Lumpkin from Illinois Public Health Department, thank you so much for answering some e-mail questions for us. We will be talking again.

LUMPKIN: It's a pleasure, any time.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, doctor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Do you enjoy sports that are a little risky, things like kayaking or downhill skiing? Well whether by land or sea, many recreational activities these days require participants to sign a waiver. Parents even have to sign for those under 18 years of age. Now a landmark Supreme Court decision may change the rules of risky activities leaving some completely out of the game.

Kimberly Osias explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KIMBERLY OSIAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Braving white water, shushing down an Alpine slope, thrills that can be risky and now perhaps riskier than ever for the industries that provide them.

JOHN RICE, OWNER, CLEAR CREEK RAFTING: Some of the smaller companies in the tourism business, you know offering activities to minors, that maybe just stop doing that.

OSIAS (on camera): That's because of a landmark Supreme Court decision here in the state of Colorado, a national trendsetter in recreation law, saying parents can no longer sign away their child's right to sue.

JIM CHALET, RECREATIONAL LAW: It sets a national precedent that children have the right to make a claim for injuries against people who hurt them.

OSIAS (voice-over): The impetus for the legal action came from David Cooper whose Olympic dream shattered after a terrible accident, one he believes could have been prevented with safety netting. In December 1995 on a super G course with tight turns in excess (ph) of 60 miles per hour.

DAVID COOPER, FORMER SKI RACER: Feeling almost like you're on air and you're weightless.

OSIAS: Cooper was going for a personal best. What he got was a nightmare.

DA. COOPER: I just was turning and slid onto my side, and then my bottom ski caught.

OSIAS: Cooper went face first into a tree.

DA. COOPER: Most of the bones in my face I broke. The last, I think, six or seven teeth.

OSIAS: Cooper's retinas detached, permanently blinding him. Since then, Cooper and his family have become child safety advocates.

DIANE COOPER, MOTHER: It would just make people more accountable.

DA. COOPER: I would hope that this never happened to anybody else.

OSIAS: And the state agreed.

In Denver, Kimberly Osias reporting.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: David Cooper graduated from high school and college with his class. He continues to ski even at the same run where he crashed. Cooper and his family have worked with the University of Colorado to make the school more accessible for people with disabilities.

FREIDMAN: In "Focus" today, the 60th anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal. It was one of the fiercest contests of World War II, a life or death struggle between Japanese and American forces on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The Battle of Guadalcanal took place just six months after the attack on Pearl Harbor when the United State was fully engaged in the war.

Mile O'Brien has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): By the summer of 1942, the Pacific Campaign was not going very well for the U.S. and its allies. Japanese air and naval forces were beginning to roll across the Pacific, taking most of Southeast Asia and several key islands, showing no signs of slowing down. When allied reconnaissance showed the Japanese building an airfield on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, the U.S. command knew something had to be done.

The Solomon's were a crucial link for both sides. For the Japanese, a potential launching point to capture nearby Australia or New Zealand. For the allies, a place to stem the tide and roll back the empire's advance.

On the morning of August 7, 1942, the allies launched their first major offensive in the Pacific. Six thousand U.S. Marines stormed the beach at Guadalcanal, catching the 2,000 Japanese defenders completely by surprise. Capturing the airfield was easy for the Americans, but then both sides began pouring reinforcements onto Guadalcanal and the surrounding islands. Bitter fighting ensued in the jungles. Six separate naval battles were fought in the area.

For six months, two resolute enemies, each determined to keep the island, each with forces that grew into the tens of thousands slugged it out. But eventually, the U.S. Navy was able to land reinforcements faster than the Japanese.

By February of 1943, the Japanese were badly outnumbered and evacuated their forces from Guadalcanal. Nearly 24,000 Japanese servicemen were dead.

The American toll was much lower, less than 1,600 Marines and Sailors perished. Among them, the Sullivan's, five brothers from Waterloo, Iowa, all serving together aboard the USS Juneau, all killed when a Japanese torpedo split that warship in half.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Hidden cameras are everywhere, banks, malls, even fast food restaurants. Well, they aren't just at the places you travel to anymore; they're also on the roads you travel and the outcome isn't just speeding tickets.

To Kathleen Koch now in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The camera is directly in the front window.

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are five unmarked cars.

LT. PATRICK BURKE, D.C. POLICE: This radar set is mounted on the front part of it here.

KOCH: Strategically positioned around Washington, D.C. wherever speeding is a problem.

BURKE: Any vehicle going over 36, it will indicate on here. If anyone is violating the speed, then a picture will be taken.

KOCH: The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety looked at those streets six months before. And six months after, camera speed enforcement started.

RICHARD RETTING, INSURANCE INSTITUTE FOR HIGHWAY SAFETY: There was significant reduction in speeding at all sites, as high as 90 percent drop in speed violations at one of the sites. So clearly, drivers stopped speeding or at least less likely to speed, in the presence of cameras.

KOCH: But some states, like Hawaii last month, have had to remove radar cameras because of concerns they violate drivers' rights to privacy. Harsher critics have financial as well as constitutional objections.

REP. DICK ARMEY (R-TX), MAJORITY LEADER: The fundamental rights of the American citizen to face their accuser and to be presumed innocent until their proven guilty, cannot be overturned by a technological gimmick and toy that has been a proven fund-raiser for the agency that deploys it.

KOCH: To Washington, D.C., the five radar cameras are worth their weight in gold.

While officers here normally write about 11,000 speeding tickets each year, the cameras, in just seven months, have churned out more than 250,000. It's put $10.5 million into city coffers.

BURKE: My wife speeds. Priests, police, politicians -- everybody speeds.

KOCH: Police insist the cameras are about changing attitudes, not making money.

BURKE: The goal of this program is it's reducing the speeds, which ultimately lead to fewer crashes that are speed-attributable, and fewer injuries on D.C. roadways.

KOCH: The speed cameras aren't foolproof.

(on camera): This is a two-lane road. Can there be a problem if you have two cars side by side that are going to same speed?

BURKE: If two vehicles are side by side, it will not actually take a picture of them because it can't distinguish which one is actually going 36.

KOCH (voice-over): But proof (UNINTELLIGIBLE) might persuade other cities the cameras assets outweigh its liabilities. Kathleen Koch, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Exploring our world, here now is CNN STUDENT NEWS "Perspectives."

FREIDMAN: Japan is going to great lengths to meet a mission target dictated in the Kyoto Protocol. The international agreement aims to cut down on the production of greenhouse gases. The U.S., which produces more of those gases than any other country, doesn't support the pact because it doesn't require developing nations to cut emissions. Nevertheless, 74 countries have signed on, including Japan.

CNN's Rebecca MacKinnon looks at the nation's efforts to comply.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REBECCA MACKINNON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When Japan's parliament ratified the Kyoto Protocol, it committed the nation to drastic reductions in its greenhouse gas emissions at a time when Japan's economy is not exactly healthy.

(on camera): Is this going to be very tough for industry?

HIROSHI OHKI, MINISTER OF THE ENVIRONMENT: Yes, and I think we have to think of that, but the same time I would say that many measures could lead to the creation of new jobs or you know, the new industries, you know.

MACKINNON (voice-over): Officials here point to innovations like hydrogen fuel cell cars now under development by both Honda and Toyota.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This hybrid consists of a gasoline engine and an electric motor.

MACKINNON (on camera): Right.

(voice-over): Half gas, half electric hybrid cars are already on the market with one-and-a-half times the fuel efficiency of normal cars.

And then there's this, a polymer electrolyte fuel cell system generating power and heat from air and hydrogen. Engineers in charge of developing the system for the Tokyo Gas Company say it would cut the average household's carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent, but it will still be a few years before it becomes widely available. Retailers are also working to meet government emission's targets.

(on camera): A company called Sayyou (ph), which owns this chain of supermarkets, has just announced new measures to literally tax each store based on its greenhouse gas emissions created by the use of electricity and gas, waste disposal and so forth. The money will be used to reward the most responsible stores and to introduce new energy saving equipment.

(voice-over): But in the end, experts say Japan's success depends on the Japanese consumer's willingness to change old habits.

AKIHIRO SAWA, METT (ph) ENVIRONMENT DIVISION (through translator): Industry is worried that they will be made responsible for cutting Japan's CO2 emissions while consumers won't change their lifestyles. Japan's 10 percent increase of emissions since 1990 came mainly from households and the transportation. Unless they change their lifestyles, we cannot reach our targets.

MACKINNON: And as store managers will tell you, there's only so much they can do if customers still want many of their fruits and vegetables in plastic packaging.

Rebecca MacKinnon, CNN, Tokyo.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREIDMAN: As you probably know, if you're traveling in a car, the faster you're going the greater your chance of being badly injured in an accident. It's an honor for an automobile company to tout a car's safety record. And one corporation is on a cross-country tour with what could be the safest vehicle yet.

Ann Kellan reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN KELLAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Most, if not all, car manufacturers create concept cars you won't find in a showroom but are used to help develop technologies for future cars. This one focuses on safety.

From a see through pillar that reduces a driver's blind spots to sensors and computers that adjust the seats based on the location of the driver's eyes, the goal, to reduce accidents and improve comfort and security on the road.

Ford, by the way, owns Volvo. Funny looking key, this personal communicator is your keyless entry into the car. It stores information like your seat setting, even medical records in case you're in an accident and protects the information with a fingerprint lock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think problem today is parents don't take their booster seat from car to car so this has it built right in.

KELLAN: And the entire seat rises to give kids a better view of the road ahead.

(on camera): Let's take it for a test drive.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can tell when there's a car coming up on you, when you're changing lanes.

KELLAN: OK, here he comes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) flashing. (UNINTELLIGIBLE) no you shouldn't go over. We are over that line here. We should hear other warning signals. Yes, that was the one that picks up...

KELLAN: Over the line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The lights change depending on whether you're on a highway or in the city. They also...

KELLAN: So they actually move when the steering wheel moves, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They move when you're turning, right, to illuminate where you're going rather than the road in front. There are around eight different cameras inside looking at the rear seat for children, looking out the back to make sure you don't run over a child behind the car.

KELLAN (voice-over): Could all these safety features create unsafe distractions?

DANIEL JOHNSTON, VOLVO: We want to be able to put people in the car and see what kind of situations they're in where they can become distracted by too much technology and then we start looking at that. Is there a benefit to that or is it a distraction and then take it out.

KELLAN (on camera): Now don't expect to see a car like this on the road anytime soon, this is a prototype, but a lot of the safety features in this car will be on the road over the next five years.

Ann Kellan, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALCOTT: Most new college grads have one goal in mind, hit the pavement and find a job. Our Student Bureau met up with some former students who decided to follow a slightly different path.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JANET MALIK, CNN STUDENT BUREAU (voice-over): It's been a year and a half since Amanda Gull (ph), Brian McCallister (ph), Mike Marriner and Nathan Gebhard left college. After leaving Pepperdine and UCLA, these four traded their diplomas in for atlases and they're taking a road trip. They are meeting with some of the country's most famous business leaders to gain insight on how to achieve personal and professional happiness. NATHAN GEBHARD, ROADTRIP NATION CO-FOUNDER: It's just -- it's a pursuit of opportunity and a pursuit of passion. So it's, without a doubt, the best road taken.

MALIK: Amanda, Brian, Mike and Nathan visit the nation's top universities. And at each stop, one lucky student joins them to participate in a roundtable discussion with successes from all different professions ranging from chefs to Supreme Court justices. Modeled after a similar adventure Mike and Nathan took a year ago, Roadtrip Nation began as a way to answer career questions by taking willing CEOs out to lunch.

MIKE MARRINER, ROADTRIP NATION CO-FOUNDER: And there's no rocket science, just total persistence, you know. We get rejected a lot.

MALIK: On this, their second road trip, with help from corporate sponsors, they're interviewing even more business leaders and filming a documentary. Instead of using funds for a fancy set of wheels, they have fixed up an RV themselves. Here they host interviews such as this one with Monster.com's CEO and friend from the first road trip, Jeff Taylor.

JEFF TAYLOR, CEO, MONSTER.COM: And I definitely did things my way and I did it backwards, right, but it has advanced me forward by doing things in a different order.

MALIK: His story is putting students at ease, like Erika Watson, a junior sociology major at Boston University, who joined Roadtrip Nation for the day and participated in their interview. When all was said and done, she realizes it's OK to take things one day at a time.

ERIKA WATSON, AGE 20: I find it's the best way to go because you don't limit yourself to anything and you don't -- I mean you change everyday and with every experience so you don't know who or what you are.

MALIK (on camera): All in all Roadtrip Nation is driving right through old ways of thinking, finding out that this new generation of soon to be employees believes their key to success will not be in their patience but rather in their passion.

(voice-over): And the business leaders Roadtrip Nation meets along their way agree, like leading chef Charlie Trotter.

MARRINER: He said that our generation has no excuse to not take risks when they're 20 years old. You know it's like -- it's like you have nothing to lose.

MALIK: One of those risks is to defy old ideas that say transitioning right from college to work is the best way to succeed. In the end, Roadtrip Nation is not just a literal journey but representative of an entire generation finding its way.

GEBHARD: We often talk about this as like a "modern-day social movement." It's something that if we can ignite the spark right it should continue in. MALIK: I'm Janet Malik for the CNN STUDENT Bureau, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

"Where in the World" leading producer of rice and sugarcane in the U.S., has had 11 constitutions since 1812, state flower is the magnolia? Can you name this state? Louisiana, U.S.A.

FREIDMAN: That wraps things up for today. Thanks for joining us.

WALCOTT: Catch you back here tomorrow. Bye-bye.

FREIDMAN: Bye-bye.

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