550,000,000 Eggs Recalled; Three Weeks of Floods in Pakistan
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Right now on CNN, the last time we saw flooding like this was never. Thousands are starving. Millions are in danger. One of the biggest natural disasters in the world has ever seen unfolding right now in Pakistan. We're live. Don't let the bed bugs bite. Easier said than done these days. And if you think you're immune, you better think again. Families from newborns to grand moms and dads all falling victim to major infestations. Freedom of religion versus a work place dress code. Why Disney isn't the happiest place on earth for one Muslim woman who works there. She is suing. Good evening everyone. I'm Don Lemon. America's massive egg recall has grown to more than 500 million eggs. It's all because of an outbreak of Salmonella. A bacteria that has sickened more than a thousand people since last month. The recall is centered on two giant egg distributors in Iowa. Their eggs are sold under more than a dozen brand names in more than a dozen states. And we're learning more tonight about the companies at the center of the egg recall. In their past -- run-ins with safety regulation, Alec MacGillis has written about this for tomorrow's "Washington Post," he and joins us now by phone. Alec, you write that the families connected to both of these giant egg operations in Iowa -- connect the dots for us here.</s>ALEC MACGILLIS, WASHINGTON POST: One of these companies that is really kind of at the center of this, the Coster Family Farm has a very, very long record of violations with the egg farming operations. Not so much with food safety issues really, but a lot of -- whole string of violations with work place issues, work place safety, employing illegal immigrants, animal cruelty allegations. Really all the way down the list, just a whole bevy of allegations of their operations. This is quite a legendary company. They are one of the ten biggest egg farming companies in the country founded by the patriarch who as a 15-year-old boy was left fatherless to take care of his family, had only 150 chickens to his name at the time growing up in a small town in Maine. He's grown that company now to the point where it's got about 15 million chickens in several states.</s>LEMON: Hey, Alec, you've looked into various fines and safety violations at these plants. What did you find?</s>MACGILLIS: Just that there is a remarkably long chain of events at these companies. And again, like I said, in recent years, they've not had so many actual food safety violations. There's been no big salmonella outbreaks at their companies. And in fact, in general, egg farming has seen a decline in salmonella outbreaks in recent years so their violations have really been more having to do with employing illegal immigrants, environmental violations, animal cruelty violations. Not so much what we're seeing now with this huge recall. This is really a big, new problem for them.</s>LEMON: Hey, Alec, has the company responded at all? Have they commented on this?</s>MACGILLIS: We, of course, tried several times to talk to them. They just kind of hunkered down right now and they declined to comment beyond just saying that they're working on the recall and trying to figure out what happened in this case.</s>LEMON: All right. Alec MacGillis with "The Washington Post." Thank you so much for your reporting tonight.</s>MACGILLIS: Thank you.</s>LEMON: We want to tell you that Salmonella causes extreme stomach discomfort and in some people even more dangerous problems. Dr. Randy Martin tells me it is important to keep this outbreak in perspective.</s>DR. RANDY MARTIN, PIEDMONT HEART INSTITUTE: 76 million people get food-borne illnesses every year. Probably about 40,000, maybe even as many as 100,000 cases of salmonella food-borne illnesses. So it is relatively common and eggs are just one of the culprits. Under cooked poultry, water, actually pets, reptiles, lizards, turtles, those things. So it's relatively common in this country to have salmonella infections.</s>LEMON: You said but there's one simple solution to most of this if you're -- when you're cooking with eggs or whatever...</s>MARTIN: Right.</s>LEMON: ...and your meat and the bacteria --</s>MARTIN: I mean, you know, the bottom line is that you want to cook your foods properly, and you absolutely want to wash your hands, wash the utensils, those sort of things, and store them. I mean, eggs are actually -- you know, as a cardiologist, we used to rag on eggs, said, you know, they're really bad for you. Eggs are actually a great source of protein and a lot of the good vitamins. But there are other sources. So if you're really concerned, have some tofu, other things like that. Refrigerate your eggs. They got to be less than 40 degrees. Store them individually, like you've done, and then cook them. They got to be more than 160 degrees for 10 minutes. And eat them promptly.</s>LEMON: So these that have been out of the refrigerator for a couple of hours, then I should probably toss. I wouldn't want to go home and cook them.</s>MARTIN: No, no, no. I think -- I think those -- you know, it's cool in here. I think they'd be OK. I mean, I think it's really important. Most healthy people, even if you get infected in the get the salmonella, you're going to do fine. I mean, you're going to be sick. It's really the young children and the elderly or those that are really debilitated that we worry about. So I think for most of us, you'd be sick for a few days, but we're going to get well.</s>LEMON: To find out which states are affected by the egg recall and for links to the plant numbers and date codes you need to look for on egg cartons, log on to our Web site at CNN.com/health. And make sure you join me tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. I'm going to be talking with the FDA commissioner. I'll ask her about the egg recall as well as the safety of seafood in the Gulf of Mexico and also other issues. That's tomorrow night 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Well, today, more than 500,000 people ran for their lives to get away from rising waters in Pakistan. A wall of water threatened to drown a city in the Sindh province. Since the flooding hit Pakistan, more than 1500 people have died and officials estimate close to 20 million people have been affected. Have been impacted by this. I want to go to our Kyung Lah. She is live now in Sindh province, in Pakistan for us. Kyung, what's going thereon? This is unbelievable.</s>KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. Especially when you consider that these floods, Don, began three weeks ago and the immediate crisis, trying to escape the flood waters, is still not over here in Pakistan. I'm in Dadu, and I just want to point out where I am. I'm standing at a higher ground. This is a road that's been closed now. What you see here are some people who -- some people who sought this higher ground, and over here to my right, this is flooding. The river is three miles away. There are still parts of Pakistan where the initial flood waters are coming in, where people are fleeing. Some of the pictures that you showed us a short time ago. Those people in that town, we saw them packing up their belongings and fleeing because their city is at risk of being over taken by those flood waters. Now, we have learned that the city is still standing as far as it being relatively dry because the man made berms are holding right now. But there are other parts of this country where they're still trying to hold back the flood waters. So, Don, anyone that would think OK, with three weeks in the flooding is over, it is not over. The next 48 hours here for this country and certain parts of it are critical as far as escaping the flood waters.</s>LEMON: Kyung, where are all of these people -- really millions of them, going? And what is it going to be like there where they're going? It may not be much better.</s>LAH: Many of them don't know exactly where they're going. They know they have to seek higher ground because their houses are washing away. And they need to try to rescue their children and take whatever they can. When they get to higher ground, it is refugee camps. Now, many of these camps are impromptu. They're trying to find shelter and perhaps in a school, we went to a school where some 40 people are in each classroom, very small classrooms, and the aid is not coming in quickly enough. And so what's happening at these refugee camps are what's being called here a second wave disaster. So after these flood waters come through, what's going to happen to these people when we talk about so many millions being affected and the disaster that's coming, the reason why is because there isn't access to water -- clean water or food. And so what's happening to these children? Some 500,000 pregnant women, all of these children who have to drink dirty water, the World Health Organization says they are seeing an uptick, 30 percent higher cases of diarrhea, and it is little wonder when children cannot get clean water. These refugee camps are almost like Petri dishes of disease where we're seeing case of outbreaks of measles and they just don't have any access to doctors.</s>LEMON: And Kyung, you mentioned the aid a little bit. The aid that is coming. You said some of it is not making it there. But the aid that is making it there, is it helping?</s>LAH: When it is arriving, it is absolutely helping. We were at one point, a distribution point in the village, where the United Nations was handing out some non-food supplies. These were tents and this is just earlier this week where people are finally getting to sleep under some sort of shelter that's going to be relatively proper. But the aid isn't coming in quickly enough. We kept hearing about the donations coming in and the United Nations saying that they've gotten about 70 percent of what they've asked for in emergency funding. But right now that isn't quite translating into a bottle of water for the people here, and that's what's really needed. The crisis as far as the urgency really needs to be expressed.</s>LEMON: Our Kyung Lah in Dadu, Pakistan. Thank you so much, Kyung, for your reporting. And as we have just heard from Kyung Lah, Pakistan is not getting as much aid as it needs, especially when aid officials compare it to other catastrophes of similar magnitude. The American Red Cross says at this point it has received $1.3 million to help Pakistan. Of course, donations continue to come in, but they expect the aid will not match previous disasters. More than half a billion was received to help the victims from the tsunami in 2004, and close to half a billion came in to help Haitians after the earthquake just this year.</s>NAN BUZARD, AMERICAN RED CROSS: Internationally, more and more funds are starting to come in. A week ago, I was with the Pakistan general counsel in New York and the U.S. government had committed to $55 million. Now, the U.S. government is up to $150 million in relief aid that's been committed. At the American Red Cross, I have to say the donations have been coming in fairly slowly.</s>LEMON: We're going to continue to follow this story coming out of Pakistan here on CNN. In the meantime, Disneyland is supposed to be a place of joy, happiness, and magic, but one woman says it is also a place of discrimination.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why would I work in the back? Well because of how I look and then I said you know, you are just hiding me because of my hijabi look, because I look like a Muslim.</s>LEMON: Well, she is suing the park now for her right to wear her head scarf. My interview with her is straight ahead. Plus, a mother is charged with suffocating her little boys. The murders of these two toddlers is an unspeakable crime. And behind it lies a dilemma facing many families. Parents who can't handle caring for their kids. Coming up, help for overwhelmed moms and dads on the brink. And don't just sit there, everyone. Be a part of the conversation. Send me a message on Twitter and Facebook, and check out my blog, CNN.com/Don. Also check in with us at FourSquare as well.