Scientists Search Russian Lake For Meteor Remains; British Authorities Meet With Supermarket Chiefs Over Horse Meat Scandal
LU STOUT: And life is returning to normal in Russia after a rare meteor explosion over the Ural Mountain. Emergency workers in the hard hit Chelyabinsk region, they spent the weekend repairing damage. The meteor shockwave, it shattered glass in thousands of buildings and at least 1,000 people were injured. And now scientists are scouring the impact area. Now they are paying particular attention to this lake as they look for meteor fragments. Now the search has had mixed results. Now Phil Black joins us live from that frozen lake in Chelyabinks. And Phil, tell us what have scientists been able to discover there?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, they have found what they believe are fragments of the meteor that tore through the sky here on Friday morning. This is a very cold spot as the temperature begins to plummet and the sun is dropping here -- we've been here through the day, but throughout this, we've still seen locals coming here to take a look at this site, because this is a confirmed impact point from that meteor. Just over my shoulder behind me you can see where those people are standing is the mark left in this frozen lake from what people say was the impact. People who saw the meteor crash down here say the result was snow and ice being thrown up high into the air and a big cloud of steam. Scientists believe very strongly that there's a big piece of the meteor somewhere now beneath this ice, beneath 10 meters of water, on the bottom of the lake. Some divers have been in to see what they can find. They weren't able to find anything, they say. The visibility was poor. They're going to make another go, they believe, when the snow and ice melts here in the warmer months. But, what they have found here on the surface are smaller fragments, roughly thumbnail sized, not very big. But they say that the makeup of these little fragments very high in iron, consistent with what -- consistent with other meteorite fragments that have been found from impacts in other parts of the world, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: And as this scientific investigation and the cleanup is taking place, the healing as well -- I mean, over 1,000 people were injured, many of them children. How are they coping?</s>BLACK: Well, I think a lot of people are now quite relieved to have lived through that -- having lived through the fear, the chaos, the panic that existed in this region for those few moments as the meteor tore through the sky, as people were hit by that very powerful shockwave. We've been speaking to a lot of people over the last few days. And when they reflect upon it, they say they still very easily, very clearly feel the fear, the uncertainty, in many cases the sheer terror that they experienced during those 30 or so seconds that the meteor made its descent through the atmosphere towards the Earth's surface. In particular, children are still, their parents tell us, very scared as a result of what they experienced, what they lived through. We've been meeting the children whose parents say that they are too scared to stand close to windows and glass. And ask if that window or glass is likely to explode again in the future. So the superficial damage, the physical damage, is pretty light both to the buildings and in most cases to the people as well -- broken windows, some cuts and scratches. But in some cases, people are going to be really thinking about this and dealing with this for time time to come Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: That's right. I mean, this is a terrifying event. And thankfully not a deadly one. But will there be a warning ahead of the next one? I mean, is there some sort of a program in Russia to pinpoint asteroids and meteors before they strike next and enter the atmosphere?</s>BLACK: Well, there isn't yet, nothing like that yet at all. But we've heard a lot from Russian officials and Russian politicians over the last few days in saying there should be, and they believe there will be. And they say they're going to try and accelerate some sort of program. Perhaps it will just be a Russian built designed run program, or some have also been talking about the need to really try and tackle this problem in an international sense, to work with all the countries of the world to have something to offer, or could possibly have something to offer to such a program, because the threat, obviously, could potentially be a global one as well, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: All right, Phil Black, joining us live from Chelyabinks, site of that rare meteor explosion. Thank you so much, Phil. Now scientists are examining small fragments of the meteor and the bits that reached the Earth's surface without being vaporized. And NASA says that the meteor measured 17 meters before it entered the Earth's atmosphere. Now that is roughly the length of one train car on the tube. Now the U.S. space agency says it released as much as 500 kilotons of energy. Now that is 30 times more powerful than the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during World War II. Now let's leave the meteorite story for now. And this is a visual rundown of all the stories we're covering on the show today. And now I want to get more on the horse meat mislabeling scandal being discussed at dinner tables across Europe. Now the UK's environment secretary is to meet executives from British supermarkets in the coming hours. He has called for complete overhaul of Europe's food testing system. And is set to ask how retails intend to restore public confidence in the beef they buy. Now British food safety officials say thousands of alerts are sent across Europe each year about concerns over food product. And CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is following developments. He joins us now live from CNN London. And Nick, how far reaching is the horse meat crisis in Europe? And what are authorities across the zone doing about it?</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Well, I suppose one of the ways that it's being measured of how far it's having on impact, the surveys that are being done on consumers and here in Britain, a quarter of all people now say they are less likely to buy processed meat and 67 percent of people, that's more than two-thirds, say they are less sure about what they are buying from what is says on the label from what the products is, that they are concerned about that. And that is what Owen Patterson, the Secretary of Environment, will be pushing the supermarket bosses when he meets with them inside the next hour that what the government in Britain is saying that the supermarkets are the last line of defense before the consumers, and they must guarantee that what their products that they sell on their shelves say on the label, that this matches the reality of what's inside the packet. But we've already heard pushback from some of these supermarket bosses themselves.</s>MALCOLM WALKER, CHAIRMAN ICELAND FOODS: Retailers are not to blame for all of this. Retailers do stringent checking with their suppliers. This came from left field. It was unexpected. And it's all right now, the media and government are saying, well you should have checked. We are checking all the time. And what you're reading in the paper now is that maybe (inaudible) was warned about this 18 months ago and did nothing. So don't blame -- don't blame us.</s>ROBERTSON: So what is becoming clearer here is that what it will take to oversee and administer the changes in the processing, in the handling of meats down the lines in the crossing of borders by different meat products, by the paper chains that were initiated by the movements of these pieces of meat is going to take a long time to clear up and to get that consumer confidence back on track, the quickest and most efficient way the government in Britain has determined, at least, is to make the supermarkets accountable despite their grievances about how all this is being handled, Kristie.</s>LU STOUT: You know, it is incredible how consumer attitudes are changing in a big way as a result of this horse meat scandal. And we heard just then from Malcolm Walker saying retailers are not to blame. So if we are to pinpoint one group, one agency, one authority, I mean who is to blame? How did horse meat get labeled as something else and get into the food chain?</s>ROBERTSON: I think what's becoming apparent is that this is beyond the scope of blaming one person, one group, one institution. I mean, we've heard from the Irish agriculture minister just last week saying that -- exactly that, that no one person is responsible. He declined to describe it as a problem of epidemic proportions. However, alarm bells were rung. We've heard from the British food standards agency saying that letters were exchanged between Denmark, Italy and Hungary last year over concerns that horse meat from Denmark had perhaps got into the food chain erroneously. We heard from the food standards agency saying that there were many thousands of messages like this communicated. Clearly it appears, at this stage at least, that there was little followup or real alarm raised. And we heard in Britain in 2011 that one of the scientists involved with the food standards agency at that time wrote to the secretary of environment, the who is leading the charge against the supermarkets right now complaining and saying that there was a real possibility of horse meat getting in the human food chain here erroneously again. So the alarm bells have been out there. And at the moment it's far too complex a situation to be able to point the finger in one direction. And it does appear that there -- blame is going to be laid at many people's doors yet on this.</s>LU STOUT: Yeah, incredible, the warnings have been out there, have been out there since 2011. Nic Robertson on the story for us. Thank you, Nic. Now you're watching News Stream. And coming up next, China's one child policy is well known, but not the pain felt by parents who lose their only child. And there's another effect you may not have considered. Stay with us.