CBS Evening News Online Edition - 2004-12-17

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:01] Hello, I'm Dan Rather and welcome to the

[0:03] CBS Evening News online edition. Just

[0:05] ahead. First, it was Vio. Now, Fizer,

[0:08] the maker of Celre, says that popular

[0:10] painkiller may raise the risk of heart

[0:12] attack. What's going on here? We'll give

[0:14] you details. Also, this is a strange

[0:16] one. The story of a bizarre kidnap and

[0:19] murder. A mother to be is killed. Her

[0:22] unborn child for a time missing. And

[0:25] those annoying telemarketers.

[0:28] Bad enough when they call you at home.

[0:30] Imagine if they could call your cell

[0:32] phone, too.

[0:33] >> It's all starting now on the CBS Evening

[0:36] News online edition.

[0:38] >> There is yet another case of a widely

[0:41] used prescription drug approved by the

[0:43] FDA that may in truth be dangerous. This

[0:46] time, it's Celre, used to treat the pain

[0:49] of arthritis. Millions of people take

[0:51] it. Now, it appears Celre, just like a

[0:54] similar drug, VioX, may raise the risk

[0:56] of heart attacks and strokes. CBS's

[0:59] Wyatt Andrews reports on the problem

[1:01] with Celre and what may turn out to be a

[1:04] far bigger problem.

[1:06] It's potentially devastating news for an

[1:09] entire class of miracle arthritis drugs

[1:12] and the patients who use them. An

[1:14] independent research team found that the

[1:16] Fiser drug celre more than tripled the

[1:18] risk of heart attacks and stroke in some

[1:21] patients taking 800 milligrams a day and

[1:23] it more than doubled the heart risk at

[1:25] 400 milligrams a day. The researchers

[1:28] said doctors should stop giving Celre to

[1:30] most of their patients. You are advising

[1:33] physicians not to prescribe Celre

[1:35] period. I am saying that uh if you're

[1:38] giving it to somebody, this is the only

[1:40] reason you can control their pain, then

[1:42] you have to realize there is an

[1:43] augmented cardiovascular risk. Fizer

[1:46] called the data significant but

[1:48] inconsistent, pointing out that the same

[1:50] research team studying lower doses of

[1:52] the drug found no heart trouble. The

[1:54] company said Celre would remain on the

[1:56] market. The FDA however advised the

[1:59] nation's physicians to consider

[2:01] alternative therapy and to give Celre

[2:04] only at the lowest possible dose.

[2:07] >> That leaves patients and doctors to sort

[2:10] the risk for themselves. Stanley

[2:11] Zimmerman, a patient with heart disease

[2:13] and arthritis, said Celre is so good to

[2:16] his joints, it might be worth some risk

[2:19] to his heart.

[2:20] >> I'd be very reluctant to change anything

[2:23] because it's working for me right now as

[2:25] much as I can see. Yes, I plan to

[2:27] prescribe Celre in the appropriate

[2:29] patient and I underline in the

[2:31] appropriate patient.

[2:33] >> Still, the news on Celre comes just

[2:35] weeks after its main competitor Vio was

[2:38] pulled from the market also for causing

[2:40] heart trouble. Celre sales had been

[2:42] soaring, closing in on $3 billion a

[2:45] year.

[2:47] Before today, Celre was widely seen as

[2:49] the safe drug among the new class of

[2:52] arthritis drugs called COX 2 inhibitors.

[2:54] Now, a toptobottom review of these

[2:57] breakthrough medicines is on the table.

[2:59] Dan

[2:59] >> Wyatt Andrews reporting live from our

[3:01] Washington bureau. Thanks. In this

[3:02] country, the FBI's urgent call for help

[3:05] from the public may have saved a baby's

[3:07] life just in time. CBS's Jim Aosta

[3:10] reports on a case involving one gruesome

[3:12] murder and a race against the clock to

[3:15] prevent another. Want to caution you

[3:17] that this story may be too disturbing

[3:19] for some viewers. When police entered

[3:22] this house in tiny Skidmore, Missouri

[3:24] Thursday afternoon, they discovered the

[3:26] slain body of pregnant mother to be

[3:28] Bobby Joe Stinett. Her murder was made

[3:30] all the more horrifying by what police

[3:32] did not find, her 8-month-old fetus. The

[3:35] newborn had been cut from Stinit's womb

[3:38] and abducted.

[3:39] >> So, we're looking at one month premature

[3:41] baby that was removed with the umbilical

[3:45] cord cut. And from what it looks like to

[3:48] us is there was the evidence would show

[3:51] that the baby is probably wrapped up and

[3:53] taken out of the home.

[3:54] >> In the hopes the child could be saved,

[3:56] police sounded an Amber Alert,

[3:58] triggering a drag net in Missouri and

[4:00] nearby states. At one point,

[4:01] investigators received a tip indicating

[4:03] the two suspects in the case may try to

[4:05] sell the baby. Why the mother was chosen

[4:08] is a mystery.

[4:09] >> She didn't have any enemies. She didn't

[4:11] have any problems with anybody. She's

[4:12] just real quiet. Late in the afternoon,

[4:15] a phone call about a suspicious red car

[4:17] led police to an undisclosed location in

[4:19] neighboring Kansas where the child was

[4:21] found alive.

[4:23] >> The child appears to be healthy and in

[4:25] good shape and the child is at a

[4:27] hospital right now being checked out by

[4:29] a pediatrician and we have no

[4:31] indications that the child is hurt in

[4:33] any way.

[4:34] >> After a dayong nightmare, the recovery

[4:36] of the baby offers some relief to the

[4:38] father and for police who now have to go

[4:40] about solving one murder instead of two.

[4:43] Jim Costa, CBS News, New York.

[4:46] >> Businesses may soon have a new way to

[4:48] invade your privacy through your cell

[4:50] phone because some cell phone numbers

[4:53] now unpublished will be available on the

[4:55] internet. CBS's Sharon Alonsi has CBS's

[4:59] Friday Consumer Alert.

[5:00] >> Vacation. Florida vacation. Investor

[5:04] Alert.

[5:04] >> If Grant Hansen believed all the junk

[5:06] faxes that have flooded his home office,

[5:08] >> affordable healthcare, affordable

[5:10] healthcare,

[5:10] >> he'd have made a mint on penny stocks.

[5:13] cut his mortgage to next to nothing and

[5:15] found the magic weight loss pill.

[5:17] >> You've never done business with these

[5:19] people?

[5:19] >> No, I don't know who Dr. Robert

[5:21] nutrition editor is. And I'm in the

[5:23] nutrition business.

[5:24] >> It's supposed to be illegal to pitch

[5:26] businesses by facts, unless there's a

[5:28] pre-existing relationship. But that

[5:30] doesn't stop the faxers, many of whom

[5:32] are set up offshore.

[5:35] >> Saturdays, Sundays, 3:00 a.m. It it's it

[5:38] doesn't know any boundaries. Now imagine

[5:40] it's your cell phone ringing and a

[5:42] telemarketer on the other end selling

[5:45] you like crazy and sucking up your

[5:47] valuable minutes.

[5:49] >> That would be horrible. It's bad enough

[5:51] at the house.

[5:52] >> Not good. Not good. I don't want to hear

[5:54] from these people.

[5:55] >> A widely circulated email warns when the

[5:57] nation's wireless phone directory goes

[5:59] online next year, you'll be flooded with

[6:02] sales calls on your cell phones. But

[6:04] Cusen, the company creating the

[6:06] directory, says the alarming email is

[6:08] simply not true.

[6:10] >> Telemarketers use lists and 411 will not

[6:13] be a list. It will not be a phone book.

[6:15] >> They insist only cell phone customers

[6:17] who opt into the service will be listed.

[6:20] >> If they do nothing at all, they won't be

[6:22] in the service.

[6:24] >> But privacy experts wonder how long that

[6:26] pledge will last if there's money to be

[6:28] made. Privacy advocate Mark Rodenberg

[6:31] warns a company policy without a law

[6:34] backing it up isn't worth the paper it's

[6:36] written on.

[6:37] >> They still kept fine print in the

[6:39] contracts with consumers which said we

[6:42] have the right to revise this policy at

[6:44] any time in the future.

[6:46] >> So they can change the rules without

[6:47] even telling the consumer. [snorts]

[6:49] >> That's where we are.

[6:50] >> I never promised that the rules wouldn't

[6:52] change, but I will promise that the

[6:54] consumers will always have a choice if

[6:56] the rules do change. In other words,

[6:58] trust us.

[7:00] >> Yeah, I don't know about that.

[7:02] >> Like many, Hansen fears it's only a

[7:04] matter of time. There's no obligation

[7:06] before somebody finds a way to start

[7:08] selling to yourself. Sharon Alonsy, CBS

[7:12] News, New York.

[7:14] >> More stories are just a click away, but

[7:16] be sure to join me on television for the

[7:18] on air edition of the CBS Evening News.

[7:20] On Monday's broadcast, Profiles

[7:22] Encourage, you'll meet a group of

[7:24] soldiers who lost limbs in Iraq. We'll

[7:27] show you how they conquered their pain

[7:29] and now Colorado's ski slopes. For

[7:33] CBSNnews.com,

[7:34] I'm Dan Rather.