CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2005-11-16

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] Hello, I'm Bob Schaefer and welcome to

[0:02] the CBS Evening News online edition.

[0:04] Just ahead, a tornado season on

[0:07] steroids. 70 twisters already a struck

[0:10] in November alone. Mark Stman will have

[0:13] that story. Also, could the accidental

[0:16] misuse of cold medications be causing

[0:19] infant deaths? We'll give you the inside

[0:21] story. And obesity, it's a real problem

[0:24] for many African-Ameans. Our

[0:26] cross-country road tour looks at what

[0:28] some are doing about it. It's all

[0:30] starting now on the CBS Evening News

[0:33] online edition.

[0:36] In this flattened Tennessee town, they

[0:38] remember hearing a whistle. It turned

[0:40] out to be a tornado sounding its own

[0:43] eerie warning. Too late for David

[0:45] Dover's family.

[0:46] >> And this is where it ended up.

[0:48] >> Their trailer used to sit here. It went

[0:50] tumbling end over end down the hill with

[0:53] Dover's 15year-old granddaughter still

[0:55] inside. She landed in the neighbor's

[0:58] yard.

[0:59] >> I've been through hurricanes.

[1:02] >> I don't think I've ever faced winds nor

[1:04] rain that hard.

[1:05] >> Cassandra Dover was in her car.

[1:08] >> I drove into the middle of it, got in

[1:10] the back seat, peed my pants, and rode

[1:12] it out.

[1:13] >> Dozens of tornadoes chewed through five

[1:15] Midwest and southern states. places like

[1:18] Collingwood, Tennessee, where Danny

[1:20] Bryson had just sat down to dinner.

[1:22] >> And all of a sudden, it just sound like

[1:23] the house was just blowing up.

[1:25] >> This is startling storm weather for

[1:27] November. A cold front moving rapidly

[1:30] east collided with unusually warm fall

[1:32] weather in the Midwest. Boom. Tornado

[1:35] time. For the third time THIS MONTH,

[1:37] >> OH MY [screaming] GOD.

[1:39] >> LIKE THIS TWISTER RECORDED on home video

[1:41] in Iowa. There have now been 70

[1:43] tornadoes already this month, double the

[1:46] previous November record in places where

[1:48] the weather worry this time of year is

[1:50] typically snow. David Dover will tell

[1:53] you flat out he wasn't prepared.

[1:56] >> This is unreal. This is stuff you see in

[1:59] Kansas. You don't see this out here in

[2:02] this part of the country.

[2:04] Noah's forecasters yesterday sensed

[2:06] trouble and sounded the alarm and that

[2:09] they believe kept this disaster from

[2:11] growing even more deadly. We have a

[2:13] heads up for parents who could that

[2:15] could save your baby's life. A coroner's

[2:18] investigation has found evidence that

[2:20] some infant deaths are the result of

[2:23] giving babies the wrong dose of common

[2:25] cold remedies. Our CBS News medical

[2:28] correspondent, Elizabeth Kaledan, now

[2:30] with the inside story.

[2:33] >> It all started about a year ago when

[2:35] investigators at the coroner's office in

[2:37] Montgomery County, Ohio, noticed a

[2:40] disturbing trend. In just 8 months, 10

[2:43] infants had died of various causes.

[2:46] >> They've been listed as SIDS. They've

[2:47] been listed as pneumonia.

[2:49] >> But coroner Jim Davis and forensic

[2:51] toxicologist Lorine Marinetti were

[2:53] suspicious and decided to dig further.

[2:56] And what they found would make any

[2:58] parent shudder. All of the babies had

[3:01] been given inappropriate doses of

[3:03] over-the-counter cold medicines. Were

[3:05] they lethal doses?

[3:06] >> Yes, lethal doses 10fold or better. Uh

[3:09] they would probably be doses that are

[3:11] okay for a adult, for an adult, but not

[3:15] okay for a child, let alone an infant.

[3:17] >> Case after case detailed tragic

[3:19] mistakes. a 12-month-old, an

[3:22] eight-month-old, even a two-month-old

[3:24] infant given medicine intended for a

[3:27] much older child. In all but one of the

[3:30] cases, the overdosing was accidental,

[3:33] simply a matter of not reading the

[3:35] label. Big difference between children's

[3:37] Tylenol and infants Tylenol.

[3:39] >> Big difference. Big difference.

[3:41] >> Pediatricians say it's a common mistake.

[3:43] Both infants and children's formulas are

[3:45] mixed together on drugstore shelves. And

[3:48] many parents think that over-the-counter

[3:50] drugs are harmless, so more must be

[3:53] better. So, if I give, you know, one

[3:54] dose and the child's not improved, well,

[3:56] I'll give another dose or another dose

[3:58] or another dose.

[4:00] Now, in some of the cases here, cold

[4:02] medicine was the direct cause of death.

[4:04] In other cases, it was the indirect

[4:06] cause of death. But either way, the

[4:08] coroner says these deaths were

[4:10] preventable. Bob

[4:13] >> Elizabeth, this this report of course is

[4:15] about one small community. What are the

[4:18] the national implications OF THIS VIEW?

[4:21] >> WELL, IT'S HARD TO SAY exactly because

[4:23] this is one of the first coroner's

[4:25] offices to document this trend, but the

[4:27] coroner here put it this way. He said

[4:29] that he's found about 10 cases in a

[4:32] state of 2 to 3 million. So, it's not

[4:34] hard to imagine how widespread this

[4:36] could be in a country of 280 million.

[4:38] Bob.

[4:39] >> Okay. Well, thank you very much,

[4:41] Elizabeth. In our latest CBS News Road

[4:43] Tour, we're reporting this week on the

[4:45] epidemic of obesity in this country.

[4:48] It's especially evident in the states

[4:50] that Mika Brzinski has been visiting.

[4:52] And obesity rates are especially high

[4:54] among African-Ameans there. Mika reports

[4:57] tonight from Jackson, Mississippi on the

[5:00] battle against a potential killer.

[5:04] Well, Bob, we're at the 9:30 Blues

[5:05] [music] Cafe where soul food is served

[5:08] up with Delta Blues on the side. And

[5:10] take a look at this meal, Bob. Fried

[5:12] chicken, candied yams, collarded greens.

[5:15] Delicious. But the very reason this area

[5:17] is called the stroke belt. One [music]

[5:19] local college though is trying to change

[5:22] that.

[5:25] >> Continuous gospel music. We're at 9147

[5:28] FM. Here, gospel is blended with a call

[5:31] to curb obesity.

[5:32] >> Get plenty of exercise. Obesity can be

[5:35] overcome.

[5:35] >> The African-American waistline is

[5:37] bulging. The result, heart disease kills

[5:40] blacks at a 30% higher rate than whites.

[5:43] Diabetes is twice as prevalent and four

[5:45] out of every 10 African-Ameans have high

[5:48] blood pressure.

[5:51] Now, historically black colleges like

[5:53] Alorn State University are reaching out

[5:56] to students.

[5:56] >> Oh, that ain't bad.

[5:58] >> Trying to trim the fat and lower the

[6:00] risk of disease. Warren Rowan signed up.

[6:03] You say you have diabetes in your

[6:05] family, high blood pressure.

[6:06] >> Yes.

[6:08] >> Alcorn professor Ross Santel is leading

[6:10] the university's new diet and exercise

[6:12] program. So, what are the eating habits

[6:15] of this region that you have to deal

[6:16] with? Well, portion control, large

[6:19] portions,

[6:21] um, cooking methods, high fat,

[6:24] >> fried chicken, greens seasoned with pork

[6:27] fat, and buttery cornbread might be a

[6:29] recipe for disaster, but it's a cuisine

[6:32] steeped in tradition. During slavery,

[6:34] African-Ameans made throwaway foods

[6:36] taste good.

[6:37] >> That one looks super good to pass up.

[6:39] >> And nurse Francis Henderson says tons of

[6:42] calories made sense.

[6:43] >> You ate because you needed to sustain

[6:45] your body. Now, um, with all the

[6:48] machines that do the work, we don't have

[6:51] that as a as a as a reality, but we

[6:54] still eat the same amount.

[6:56] >> But making healthy changes does not mean

[6:58] changing the African-Amean view of

[7:01] beauty.

[7:01] >> Do you want to be super thin?

[7:04] >> No.

[7:05] >> It just doesn't look right to us.

[7:07] >> No, it does. We want a little hip and a

[7:08] little this and a little that, but not a

[7:11] whole whole lot. No. How am I? Do I fit

[7:14] what you're talking about?

[7:15] No. No. I mean, not I mean, not really.

[7:19] >> But for Warren Rowan and thousands of

[7:21] others, the choice is clear. You're

[7:23] going to have to change the way you

[7:25] live.

[7:26] >> Yes.

[7:28] >> Exactly.

[7:29] >> But getting that weight off means

[7:31] battling longheld traditions. Both

[7:33] world's father and grandfather were in

[7:35] the 500 range. Father,

[7:39] >> thank you very much, Mika. More stories

[7:41] are just a click away, but don't forget

[7:42] to join me on television for the on air

[7:45] edition of the CBS Evening News. On

[7:47] Thursday's broadcast, preventing terror

[7:49] at major sporting events, would you mind

[7:52] being searched? You'll meet a man who

[7:55] did mind and tried to get it stopped.

[7:57] for cbsnews.com.