aljazeera.com/considerthis or on our facebooko google+ or twitter@ajconsiderthis. treat me at ali velshi. see you next time. . >> hi, everyone. this is al jazeera. i am johns siegenthaler in new york? >> an american dies on the battlefield in syria. why the islamic state group is winning western recruits. truce declared. gaza celebrates as israel and hamas agree to an open ended cease-fire ending 50 days of violence. oil dangers. huge shipments of highsly flammable crude oil riding rails through american citizees. should the government do more to keep people safe? beyond the ice bucket challenge,

how cutting-edge technology is being used to help people with als. we begin our coverage in the middle east. the so-called islamic state has been gaining ground there and recruiting fighters from around the world including america. tonight, washington confirmed a california man died fighting for the islamic state group in iris i can't jennifer london has the story. >> john, we have confirmed that a 33-year-old american named douglas macarthur mccain was killed during a fire fight in syria this weekend. what we don't know is why he left his life here in california to fight in syria's ongoing silv civil war. >> at sol point, he left a life in san diego to fight in syria. the obama administration says he died there. if this facebook page is to be

believed, the one time community college student liked rap music and was a die hard chicago bulls fan. an uncle reportedly said mccain, who was 33, became radicalized after concerting to islam. a picture posted to this facebook account in 2010 shows the flag of the islamic state group and on twitter, just two months ago, there was this retweet, pray for isis, the old akronic for the islamic state group. he is not the first american killed fighting in syria. in may, the white house confirmed the death of someone who jounld the al noursa saying he carried out a suicide attack in the city of itlet. he was in florida. >> not just the united states government but many western governments are concerned about these foreign fighters leaving shores, getting radicalized, trained and come can back. >> concerns that are growing in light of recent recruitment videos by the islamic state

group. >> living in the won't, i know how the cure for the depression is you have. >> most fighters for the islam iic state group come from iraq and syria. some analysts say videos showing violent acts including the recent beheading of an american journalist may win it more recruits. >> late this afternoon, the national security counsel released a statement sayss which says the government continues to use every tool to disrupt and dissuade individuals from traveling abroad for, quote, violent gihad. john, additionally, the obama administration says it is working on tracking those who do return. >> it's jennifer london reporting. three americans are still being held by the islamic state group in syria. officials said one is a 26 yooelingd woman kip nast last year. her family has asked her identity not be released. the state department says it is

maintaining a policy of not negotiating for hostages but the fighters have said that they will release the woman for $6.6 million. in addition to the money, the fighters have demand the release of one of america's prisoners. jonathan betz is here with that story. jonathan? >> that woman demanding to be release asked well known. the various groups including the taliban have long demanded her freedom. she is a mother and mit-trained scientist and they say she is a terrorist. >> in exchange for captured americans, islamic state group fighters have been demanding this woman be released. a pakistani neuro scientist now in prison in texas convicted of trying to kill american soldiers in afghanistan. >> for years, protesters and her family have demanded her freedom. >> my sister is going to come back. >> now, her loved ones are reportedly devastated that her name has been connected with a

ransom request with the islamic state group. >> they remember traumatized by the thought that someone else could be harmed in the name of afia. they expressed opposition. >> she is a 42-year-old mother of three. she studied at mit and spent years in the united states. >> we would like to call positive sister aafia. >> show her speaking about her faith when she was a teenager in the u.s. >> islam is the best savior and protector for women. >> yet over the years, u.s. authorities say she became friendly with al-qaeda, marrying an operative and planning attacks on new york city la landmar landmarks. she was arrested in afghanistan in 2008. while being questioned, prosecutors say she quibbled a arrival from the floor and opened fire on american soldiers. she was shot in the stomach. no one else was seriously heard but it let to her conviction and an 86 year pripz sentence.

since, supporters sdpanlded her release. her direction to that islamic state group is unclear. she's been in jail since 2008 which is years before the group began to grow in to what it is today. >> jonathan, thank you tony shaffer, required u.s. army lieutenant corn col onnel. >> good to be on. >> how do americans like do you go las macarthur mccain get recruited by these groups it's the same way i have been talking to friends in england. same way youth there, youth being between 15 and 40, younger folks. they have a sense of wanting to belong to something a lot of the imagery used by the radical folks, radical mullahs is attractive to them. we like the idea of being liked, being involved and for whatever reason, these folks feel very detached from society. it's not just recently the.

the report talked about the woman who was radicalized, gi jane. i'm sorry. jihad jane, a pennsylvania woman was radicalized. i think it's the idea that somewhat detached from their society want to belong to something bigger. they get such in to this. >> other than being detached from society, what other profile is there? >> i think the other thing is that they do true believers. any religion, john, any religion has the dark side where people become so engrained in believing certain parts of the religion, they lose track of everything. >> becomes their entire life. in this case, you are talking about radicalization which results in taking up affirms against the very society you come out of i think those two things together can be a very effective tool at abobritis bri people in to the battle space exercises being effective. >> a number of people have

expressed concern about how these groups, how this group is funding. talk a listen to this. >> sure. >> this is the wealthiest terrorist group we have ever had to deal with. so we need to really step back and ask ourselves: you know, one of the things we used to do in chasing al-qaeda was the slogan, "follow the money." here, the money seems to be following the terrorist group. and i think we have to ask ourselves, given that the 911 operation cost, by some calculations, cost al-qaeda about $400,500,000, what can these guys do with the amounts of money they now have? so i think that's another component it. they've got territory. they've got access. they've got money, and they have motive. so, i think the only prudent thing to assume here is that over the longer term, they will be a threat to us. >> tony, how can the funding of the islamic state group be

corralled? >> two ways, john: as stipulated as john mclaughlin said, money is following them. they are effective. means have paid these ransoms. we are talking about hundreds of millions of dollars and plus, isis has seized banks. they have money. they are well-funded. there are two ways to counter that. you have to actually physically counter and track it. you have to figure out where it's at and try to stop it from crossing international borders. secondly, electronically, we track the money from al-qaeda had from bank to bank. there is something called enablers, those medal men who get involved in transactions. we want to track them so we can map out the organization. one of the key things that we need to do is determine how large isis really is or is really is. the way you do that is track the money, track the enablers and by doing that, you can formulate an idea of what the organization is and then you can go about defeating it little by little. >> pompom talked about the group today.

here is what he said. >> rooming out a cancer like isil won't be easy and it won't be quick but ty randz and murderers before them should recognize that kind of hateful vision ultimately is no match for the strength and hopes of people who stand together for the security and dignity and freedom that is the birth right of every human being. >> we are trying to judge how big a problem this is for the u.s. how big a problem is this for the a obama administration? >> it's huge for both reasons. it's a huge threat, very well defined, territory, money, and because, john, two things happen with president obama. first, there is a perception he didn't do enough in syria to try to get things going there in a positive way to remove bash arrest al-assad, that space, that ungoverned space, if you will became a breeding ground for isis. a lot of folks feel -- i am one

that we left iraq prematurely swungs i was against the invasion, you break it, you own it, to quote colin powell. the goverance was going to be able to sustain a democracy. we left prematurely. i think president obama is kind of a double wham mcmorries being criticized. i don't think a lot of folks believe he has acted quick enough regarding the itsis threat and lastly, there has been a lot of talk about the possibility of airstrikes against is in syria. nothing from the u.s. on this. but what authority does president obama have to act on this? >> well,'s got the war powers act. he has technically activated that for iraq. he said i am putting in forces to do certain things in iraq. you have seen the astrikes in northern iraq supporting kurds. wh he has to get permission to go

in to syria to start conducting military proveficiencies. it requires he report to congress how he intends to use money. >> he has already been given which would be going in to sir 8 i will be on capitol hill meeting with members of congress and staffs. this is going to be something that's going to be debated probably within the next few weeks good to see you, tony. >> thank you. >> in gaza, celebrations in the streets after 50 days of war with israel over. israel and hamas announced an open ended truce. israel will ease the blockade on gaza to allow relief supplies and rebuilding materials in. the white house praised the cease-fire. top officials warned about challenges ahead for the israel/gaza relationship. a report from washington. >> is thes obama administration said it strongly supports the cease-fire reached between hamas and the israeli government on

tuesday. the deal was brokered by the egyptians but the americans played a critical role, they say, in trying to make certain that the concerns of the israelis and of the members of the palestinian authority were reflected in the final agreement. what happens now? the u.s. says the first and foremost is trying to restore some sense of normality inside gaza trying to rebuild critical infrastructure, rebuilding homes and businesses. >> that's going to take a lot of international support and a lot of international cash. there might be some sort of rebuilding conference organized by the united states. longer term, though, what about peace between the palestinian as and the israelis? state department spokesman said on tuesday, it's probably too early to think about getting back face to face talks because the more immediate issues is making certain neither side is either firing rockets at each other or conducting air strikes needs to be eliminated as

quickly as possible. >> roslyn jortan, the underlying issues of the war have not been res old. many fear are fighting can begin again at any moment. andrew simmons reports from gaza city. 50 days of war. now this, celebration to usher in another ceasefire. this one, unlike the others that failed is meant to stick indefinitely bonded by political agreement. talking was going on. fighting was still intention as well. at least six palestinians were killed in israeli airstrikes. and among the pan stillian mortar fire lending in israel, police said a civilian was killed and six others were wounded. dmubz to announce the cease-fire breakthrough was hamas.

>> we are here today after long, long days nus battle considered by the occupation to be the longest and most violent battle in its history. we are here today to declare that we achieved victory over the israeli occupation and web able to achive what all other arab armies fade to do. >> later came word from the palestinian president who mounted a diplomatic offensei. >> i would like to announce the palestinian authority accepted the egyptian initiative to agree to a permanent cease-fire in gaza starting from 7:00 p.m. local time and we hope that this will be the beginning of the inlanding of the suffering of our people and allowing much needed aid to enter. >> after seven weeks of fighting, the easing of the blockade mounted by israel and egypt should lesson what was the throttling of an economy and the welfare of palestinians in gaza.

but while people are happy about agreements such as extended fishing rights for gazans, major issues suf as palestinian demands for' seaport and an air terminal are being put to one side possibly for a month. >> this was the most dead lyn and costly of three gaza wars. could it already be over? no one can be sure. and is hamas really able to claim victory? >> not surprisingly, israel rejects such an assertion. >> now as the dust will begin to clear, many people low back will be asking: why is it that today, hamas accepted the very same egyptian framework that it rejected a month ago. ultimately, so much blood shed could have been avoided. >> hamas in turn says regev is wrong although some are celebrating what most palestinians in gaza think now, rebuilding their lives and rebuilding the gaza strip of

both colossal challenges even if the ceasefire proves to be a permanent one this time. andrew simmons, al jazeera, gaza city. police in israel have found no trace of a missing american student from new jersey. 23-year-old aaron sofer was last seen friday before a hike in the jerusalem forest police say they are stepping up their search. some of his familimez have called otisisi military to get involved. speaking of thousands of military vet transpompom promised to overhaul the troubled veterans healthcare system. it comes one day after the va's own investigation found no evidence that delays in care caused any deaths at a phoenix tret vet transhospital. the justice department, the f.b.i. now looking in to charges of obstruction of justice at several va facilities. libby casey has more from washington. >> john, 3078pom is using his pen and his phone to try to improve the state of veterans

care. he is trying to improve their metal healthcare, to increase suicide prevention efforts, help with peer counseling and get veterans transitioned in to programs to help them automatically without them having to look for it and search for help as they leave military service and start their civilian life. there is also efforts by the white house to try to make sure that vet transget access to programs designed to hem them buy houses. the programs already exist but many vet transdon't know about them. they are going to work with bafrpingdz to try to make sure that vets know what they have access to. this all comes on the heels of scandal at the veterans affairs administration, allegations of cover-ups that vets were waiting for weeks and months just trying to get basic healthcare. president obama says that is changing. >> what i want you to know directly from me is that we are focused at this on the highest levels. we are going to get to the bottom of these problems. we are going to fix what is

wrong. we are going to do right by you and we are going to do right by your families. >> that's a solemn pledge and commitment that i am making to you here. >> inspector general report released tuesday, john, diingdz in to just what happened at the phoenix facility which was the epicenter of these complaints and elsewhere now it is he while they could not find evidence that veterans actually died while waiting for care, the inspector general report did find that there was manipulation of the appointment system to such a degree that it is a systemic problem throughout the veterans affairs administration. now, the new va secretary, he just came in to the job this summer in the aftermath of the scandal, bob mcdonald told veterans today that improvements are happening. >> the facilities are adding more clinic hours, recruiting to fill position vacancies, deploying mobile units, mobile medical units and using thomp rather staffing to provide more care to veterans more quickly. >> now, republicans critical of the obama administration say the

language that the white house is using is all well and good but that substantial changes are coming too slowly at the veterans affairs administration. john? >> libby casey reporting. another powerful after shock rocked northern california today. in all, more than 65 aftershocks have rattled the area hit by g magnitude 6 quake on sunday. government officials still inspelthing the region's infrastructure. early damages estimates are now close to a billion dollars. hundred cristobal gaining strength tonight. people on the east coast are seeing i thinks already. meteorologist kevin coreveau is here. i want to show you a strong

storm search an rip tides. look at what we can expect to see from massachusetts down to hatteras. strong rip tides dangerous if you are in the water. like i said, we are looking at a tropical storm watch in effect right now across that area. we are watching what's happening behind the storm. this could be the newest storment right here. we will watch it as it makes its way in to the caribbean. ducksbu ducksbury, the video that came out yesterday of the great white shark spotted off of the coast of duxbury, om one of about 14 that has been seen this year in the cape cod area and one person wrote on the beach, you need a bigger boat. so definitely stay out of the water.

it is white shark season. >> great white shark. thapingdz, ken. coming up, more and more trains are carrying highly flammable crude oil across america. why regulations have failed to keep pace with that growing danger. plus an unintended benefit of medical marijuana. can it help prevent overdose deaths? deaths?

interfering medical researchers trying to determine whether medical marijuana has an unbended benefit. a study from johns hob kipz is he with legalized medical marijuana had 25% fewer deaths due to overdose. it suggests patients who turn to marijuana for pain control are less likely to become addicted to narcotic pain medication. doctor margaret haney's research focuses on the impact of chronic marijuana use. she is with columbia university and she is in our studio. welcome? >> thank you. >> is there a relationship

between the use of medical marijuana and the decline in opiate deaths? >> there has been a very important association just discovered or just published today showing a 24.8% decrease in opiod overdoses. the study compared 13 states that had legalized marijuana and looked over a 10-year period and found that, again, there was this remarkable decrease relative to states that do not have legalized medical marijuana. >> what do you think that means? >> these studies can show you this association. we don't know the cause. >> that's the next phase of research. we have to figure out the cause. one hopes perhaps people are using less opiods and more marijuana a reducing opiod use and using marijuana to treat their pain >> why would that be better? >> marijuana is less dangerous than opiods. >> how much less dangerous? >> remarkably. you don't overdose on marijuana. the rate of prescription opioids

and overdose has skyrocketed. >> how big a problem has that be been? >> a steady important increase. it's remarkable. it's a very dangerous situation. >> why is that happen can? >> in part opioids were over prescribed. they were in people's medicine cabinets. they are highly addicted. people developed a problem and many move over to heroin because it's easier. it becomes an intractable problem with prescription opioids and pair win abruce. >> there were people who said they had back pain or other pains that got on opiates and they were prescribed by their doctors. did their doctors realize these were problems? is this a doctor problem? is it a patient problem? >> doctors, of course, want to treat pain. it's a terrible thing to be in pain and so we have had this pendulum swing. sometimes doctors are too severe and not prescribing enough pain medication and sometimes they are over prescribing. so we kind of cycle back and forth. with oxycontin it became too

readily available. one possibility from this important study that came out today is perhaps -- we need to prove this still, people were using more marijuana and less opinion otherwise. fewer were dying that way. >> if there is a link, do you foresee much more use of medical marijuana in the future in other states that don't have it now? >> if we can prove that actually people are reducing opinionoid use and again, i have said before, i am notod use and again, i have said before, i am not, i think that would be an important policy, to have policy impact. >> i am assuming the use of medical marijuana to treat pain has increased a great deal since medical marijuana has been improv improved? >> in the states that have legalized it, there are plenty of people who report a medical problem to get it. not everybody is in terrible pain. marijuana is only a modest an al

jeezic. it can help, be an add junk but not going to treat the same degree of pain that opiods. >> you stud thk so you know, i assume what's this is the legalization of marijuana in certain states or the use of medical marijuana in certain states, does that increase the problem with people chronically using marijuana? >> yes. marijuana use is increased in these states. society is sarningsing it. there is a cultural shift in those states. marijuana becomes much more readily available and sanctioned. so marijuana use goes up. >> is that a good thing? >> it depends upon what else goes up. if other more dangerous drugs go down, then again, 1 could make the argument. i am ambivalent about adding another intox can't, a legal intoxcan't. i don't know what the sequences are. i am concerned about teenage, heavy use in teenage years because we know there are consequences to that dr. haney, it's good to see you.

thank you for joining us. >> sure thing. >> coming up next, the ice bucket challenge has raised tens of millions of dollars for severely disabling disease. a look at the cutting edge technology helping some patients now. >> plus the world health organization's startling warning about popular ecigarettes.

>> hi, everyone. this is "al jazeera america." i am john siegenthaler in new york. coming up, a crude reality for dealing with transporting oil. a lot more traffic on the railroad, but still, no new regulations. plus, new information about a deadly dog attack in michigan. the growing fear and length some people in the neighborhood went to protect themselves. also, $88 million and counting from als research. we will introduce you to people who are suffering from the disease and the technology to help them communicate.

dozens of protest gathered in new york today calling for rules for transporting crude oil by rail. the federal government is tackling that after growing safety concerns. the number of freight strains carrying highly flammable crude oil has risen dramatically and with it, so have accidents. >> fred millar is a man on a mission, a rail assist consultant. they have been sounding the alarm about freight strains carrying crude oil. they can stretch 100 cars long and when there is a problem, th this can happen. >> i mean is there an acceptable level of derailments we are supposed to put up with. >> there has been a huge spike in oil exploration, mainly in what's called baken crude from north dac owed a critics and the government say this type of crude is more flammable than

other times. >> shipments by rails skyrocketing, so have accidents. >> this one was in north dakota last december, 2000 people fled. a month earlier, it happened in alabama. there was a near disaster in philadelphia. then this april n lynchberg, virginia? >> never in my light. it was scary. >> most tragically in calendar, 47 people died when a run away crude oil train de-railed in a tiny town in quebec. >> there is widespread agreement that safety standards have not kept pace. so the government is drawing up what it calls comprehensive new safety rules. >> among the proposals, stronger tank cars, better breaking systems, slower speeds for trains with older model cars, safer routing and better notifications to state on shipments.

>> safety experts say faying out the older rail cars would take two years. >> i call them pepsi cans on wheels. they are so thin-skinned the national transportation safety board has been issuing alarms about these tank cars for 21 years. >> another concern, there is no required notification of local fire and police and these trains roll through. railroads say the secrecy is necessary for execute. safety groups disagree. >> there is not one city in the country, not one citizen in the country that has been told what the railroad decisions are for the routing of the most dangerous cargo. >> the industry points out nearly all shipments arrive safely one mishap can turn disastrous it's while all are wrangling over how safe ais saf enough. >> lisa attacker, al jazeera washington. >> a host of proposals out there for making oil transport safer

but safety advocates say one of the key issues is taking human error out of the equation. our jake ward explains. >> trains operate much like they always have by a manual control and a simple system of signals and radio communications. if you fall asleep at the wheel, that's it. the train is going to crash. the ntsb has been advocating for creation of an automated anti-crash system since 19 sent and a terrible crash in 2008 which killed 25 people in california prompted congress to set a 2015 deadline for putting a policy trail:system in play. positive control would add gps satellites and sensors on the tracks and centralized control system that can slow or stop a train when it senses dangerous speeds or trouble ahead. csx, the company that owns this tran said it will make the deadline. but at an estimated cost of between 8 and $22,000,000,000 to implement the system across the

industry, much of the trail industry warned it will have a lot of trouble meeting that deadline. it's not clear, of course, whether a positive control system would have prevented this crash in leverage burg. we don't know if those rails carried the traffic that is governed by it. we know as many as a third of all rail accidents are a result of human error. and the thing is, this particular kind of crash is something we have been washed about for years. the train cars involved here seem to have been the black pill shaped cars known as dot 111s. you would recognize them if you were driving alongside them on the highway. they have been involved in several recent oil train derailments. they are outdated. >> jake ward. now, the former head of the ntsb warned that the process of making federal rules takes too long and terrible accident could happen before effective regulations take place. the u.s. is in the middle of an energy boom. national gas production is expected to glow even more. more technology making it much easier for companies to access

energy that used to be out of reach. david shuster reports. >> reporter: this may look like your normal airport, but pittsburgh international is anything but normal. situated within the mineral rich marsellas shell, it is practically floating atop national gas reserved. allegheny signed a lease to drill for natural gas on airport ground. the county expects to collect a half billion dollars over the next 20 years. >> that's about 25 million a year. rich fitzgerald is executive of allegheny airport. >> consul will spend about $500 million in building out the infrastructure needed for the airport property. the drilling, the pipe work, the engineering, the excavation, et cetera. when you add that to the royalties, we have a billion dollar deal without any tax

dollars going in to it. >> that deal could not have come at a better time. in 1987, pittsburgh international made a billion dollar gamble of its own. partnering with u.s. air on expansion project designed to handle 30 million passengers a year. but traffic peeked at less that 21 million in 1997. in 2002, u.s. air then bre wanted as u.s. airways filed for bankruptcy. the next year, the airline broke its lease leaving airport officials holding the back. >> we didn't have the money coming in from all of the airline operations to pay off the debt of our airport. this is a source of revenue from the extraction of the gas that will help pay down that debt. >> consul located just out of the airport fence, it will bore more than a mile deep to extract the natural gas. it can even drill horizontally

sucking up deposits from runways. airport officials insist it's safe with all flights and runways operating as usual. >> in addition to paying off its debt, pittsburgh international plans to invest some of the new found riches back in to the airport. >> the goal, to attract more airlines with lower cost. but with the national gas deal under its belt, the airport hopes to diversify more. >> of those 9,000 acres we own out at the airport, we are developing those for commercial development, office space, research and development, distribution centers, and we are able to use that money to build out the infrastructure creating jobs for the residents of this region. >> david shuster, al jazeera. >> the united nations authority on climate change says its happening, and it could be too late to stop it. >> that's according to the panel's latest draft report. u.s. body also blames global

warning on humans saying greenhouse e ms. are among the highest ever. learning more about the final moments of a detroit jogger's life just before he was mauled to death by two dogs. a police report obtained by the detroit free frpress outlines wt happened. bisi onilere. >> reporter: screaming an begging for help this police report reveals that's how 46-year-old craig sitzma spent the last moments of his life, jogging down this rural michigan road when two massive dogs of the italianblied stacked him. the dogs dragged him in to a ditch and bit him at least eight times. residents ran to save sitzma. one-told police by the time she reached the divorced father of three, he said he was dying. a short time later, he was dead. neighbors say the dogs had a

history of digging themselves out of this kennel and running loose before sitzmas was mailed to dealt. the dogs viciously attacked two other people. with sitzma lying in a pool of blood, some say neighbors tried to administer first aid and another grabbed a belt and towels but the dogs forced them away. the chaos ended when one neighbor grabbed a gun and shot at the dogs. at least .1 was hit. >> i don't know how this happened, how this, you know, how all of these people who have had incidents with them and have been bit by them, how it just continued on. >> kim warstler lives down the road from where the last attack took place. she said the dogs were a well-known threat in the community. >> i had heard a few of the neighbors jogged with guns because of the dogs that were loose and about on the streets. i put an invisible defense so my dog wouldn't be mistaken for a

stray or a dog that was unsafe. >> 45-year-old sabistiao from italy and husband 44-year-old wife owned the dogs. if convicted faced life beyond bars. jason malcowits described them as good people and said the facts that they are charged with angintentional killing seems illogical. in an earlier report, mattamoa told access the department was aware of attacks but levied nothing more than 5s. the attorney represented the dogs first two victims in a lawsuit. he believes la peer county al man control could have done more. >> i think, you know, the writing is on the wall. but where there was nothing done after the first incident and just mroinor tickets, that tell you the system is broken. >> animal control policies are under review. bisi onilere, matamorea

township, michigan. >> electrosh i can cigarettes are booming in popularity. it's you know clear how safe or dangerous that are. today, it's an indoor smoking ban should extend. >> very easy. >> it's cap catching on. the world health organization says the uses of ecigarettes doubled in four years. >> now, it's call okay governments to restrict ads like this, ban sales to minors and protect ecigarettes with fruit flavoring. smokers can choose from apple to tropical. >> i like the taste of it. the taste is probably my favorite part. >> the w.h.o. 's proposal found

while ecigarettes are less toxix, it poses threats to adolescents and fetuses of pregnant mothers uses these devices. the who is calling on bait want companies to stop claiming that ecigarettes can help people quit smoking conventional cigarettes. >> there is no sufficient evidence as to whether electronic cigarettes help or not spokers to quit smoking. >> it's time smoking changed forever. welcome to fuse. >> propose events of ecigarettes argue they are safer than tobacco because no lung higher damaging smoke. they rely on heating nick teoti >> regulation will to work get more smokers to switch. >> the who declared war on big tobacco a year ago.

175 couldn't trees disagreed to raise cigarette taxes, tried to end smoking and ban or limit tobacco ads. >> a similar agreement on ecigarettes is probably far off largely because they are so new. the who says finding out whether they cause diseases like cancers could take decades. al jazeera. >> the ice bucket challenge that has gone viral has raised more than $88 million in a month. the als association says it was awe-struck by the generous donations. it's helping raise awareness about als which has no cure. there is technology out there that gives people with the disease something they wouldn't otherwise have: a voice. al jazeera's techno has this story. >> the training camp for the baltimore laivenz ball team seems deserted but aj briggans is at his desk as he is every

day. >> you come here to work several times a week and one wouldn't blame you if you wanted to stay at home. what keeps you coming here? >> sure. i could have stayed home and gone in to see collusion after my als diagnosis, but coming to work is about refusing to give up. if we are isolated, our spirit will wither and die. >> a driving force on the ravens 2001 super bowl winning team, oj was diagnosed with a paralyzing disease, als, when he was 37 years old. als, a neurological disorder is also known as lou gehrigehrig's disease and robs the body of almost all it's muscular functions. >> this building is brimming with men who appear to have super human string. they agree oj briggance is the strongest, despite being unable to move on his own.

>> silence by als, oj remains the voice of locker room inspiration. >> get ready for something great. stay humble and hungry [applause.] >> oj speaks through his eyes. gazing at his computer screen to produce a sin they thinkized voice nailed mail. >> how frustrating is it for you to not hear your voice >> frustrating for a while but i learned to be thankful that i could still communicate through the use of technology. >> this is the state-of-the-art of that technology. the toby i 15. >> the camera found my eyes? >> exactly. what happens is the camera looks at how the light is reflecting out of your eye. >> the computer is sending out infrared rays, all of the dark spots in your eyes absorb those rays and reflect them back to the computer. is that correct? >> exactly. >> now calibrated to my gaze, my

eyes work the keyboard like fingers. there are almost 2000 preprogrammed words or phrases i can choose on or type my own. >> hello. my name is general income. >> you probably don't want a male voice? >> hell hoe high any more is sheni. >> hello. my name is sheni. >> computer generated voices having around air what i mean. it's widely recognized they don't can't tour the essence of a person. >> come up here. come on, boy. roger, come up here. come on, boy. >> go get it. a little kiss at the statement. >> poly has been silenced by her als but walker still responds to the vois that always summoned him. >> good dog. you are such a good boy now generated from a tobii custom loaded with 840 of her own recordings. >> hi. my name is holly.

it's nice to meet you. >> it's lovely to hear you say that. >> diagnosed with als two and a half years ago, holly started recording her voice about six months before she lost the ability to speak. a process called voice message banking. >> that was the machine talking. i take no responsibility. the conversation not banked, holly must fall back to the computer's voice. >> how important is it to you to be able to use your voice that you have banked? >> i think that the greater is impact is on the listener. so i would ask joan. >> it allows for an engagement that using the computer voice, no matter what the words are doesn't allow for. it's been pretty profound. >> please just let me finish. >> all right. go ahead. >> you always get the last word. >> hearing her jokes, hearing her comments, hearing her caio for now, her favorite one-liners. >> fergeddabout it.

>> the personal voice recordings is the brain child of speech pathologist john costello of boston children's hospital? >> we started with a hand held recorder that would record in .wav file. i saved them on my computer. i go and tag them so that each of them is named for the phrase. >> the recordings are uploaded to the computer, anda assigns the category shot cuts like medical, food or social. >> they are there for the eventuality of someone needing to have their voice because they have lost the ability to speak. >> sure. >> sure. >> sure. >> massachusetts artist nancy campbell was diagnosed with als four months ago. nancy already knows the cruel progression of the disease. having cared for her mother, who died of als 31 years ago. >> i used to write out on index

cards sayings like, would you like a glass of water or i would write, smile on it or laugh. i realized at that time how important communication was. >> tearfully reluctant at her first recording conversation, she tashaped her tune. i want a hug. >> she could say i want a pass. >> hopefully i will be able to capture my laugh, my expressions, my things that i want to say to my family. >> it is only beginning. get ready for something great. >> the silent voice of oj briggance often speaks volumes. for oj and his wife regret not voice banking? >> i miss hearing his natural voice. my husband had a sexy voice before this. >> someone has to go. this o, oj briggance is out of here as well. >> i didn't fully realize the

importance and value of hearing the words of your own voice. voice banking is one of the first things i recommend to those newly diagnosed. >> think about recording those legacy messages, deeply personal terms of endearment? >> i love you, too, joni. >> when you hear that, how does it make you feel? >> well, it checks on me up. emotional. happy. sad. bitter swoot. i don't want to lose it. and the good news, i guess, about the message bank banking is i don't have to lose it? >> i thank you for everything. >> you are very welcome. . >> holly ladd spents her life as an advocate for public health services so it was no surprise that she summoned up the energy to spends some of her last days getting out the message about voice banking. sadly, holly lost her fight with

als in july. this programming note, you can watch techno every saturday 7:30 eastern time, 4:30 pacific.

>> you are looking at heavy rain across southwest. this has been the trend. it doesn't help we have a hurricane just off of the coast helping to pump mouisture in tht area. we are seeing all of these states anywhere from colorado colorado downing here toward southern california. we have flooding as an advisory as watches and also flash flood watches in advisory here for near elb paso texas. if you are driving, be careful at night where you don't see low water crossing areas. we expect to see on wednesday to thursday, a lot of that rain begins to move a littles more over here tofdz the east. the heat as been a major problem here things are beginning to

cool down slightly, but tomorrow, city 96 degrees as a hoo over here toward st. louis, finally starting to see temperatures come down. >> by the time we get to saturday, 87 degrees. that is actually what we had expect tore this time of year. in the northeast, the u.s. open tomorrow, we expect to see a very warm day at 90 degrees and only a slight chance of rain in your forecast. otherwise, friday, a beautiful day. >> that's a look at the national weather. news is next.

. >> classical ballet in the u.s. has a problem when it comes to diversity. one company is trying to change that. daniel lak reports. ♪ >> change doesn't come easily to ballet. just ask misty copeland, soloist at new york's american ballet theatre. she is one of the few african-americans to be at the top of her art form. that's something she and her company wants to put bind them? >> as an african-american balrina in the 21st century, it's still rare to see us. so, i think it's about opening up people's eyes to understanding that we can all be a part of the classical world. it doesn't matter what your skin color is. >> in the past, african-americans have gone to europe to dance where their skin color mattered less. some blaies racism. sories the demands of ballet training on time and resources for working-class families.

>> the three black students in this summer's elite class in new york have heard all of the familiar arguments. >> i feel like people weren't used to african-americans and the white artist, they are used to hip-hop or mod he were like i don't want to do this. it's too cliche. it's too expected from a black person. >> at the american ballet theatre school, they are explicitly searching for young dancers from once excluded groups. misty copeland is the 40s behind project cleia. there is a 10% rise in minority students. >> bodes well for ballet's popularity, too. >> people who are in the audience wants to see people who look like they beliem on stage. as long as we don't have that representation, i don't expect there to be diverse audience. >> soon, misty copeland will dance the lead in tchaikovsky's

squat swan lake" she cites a well-known role model who also didn't let race get in the way of success. >> they think he set the bar for change, president obama, and it's nice that we have someone like that to set an example that african-americans, hispanics, minorities, are capable of being leaders in our communities. >> art, it's said, reflects life. if that's true, then this art form at least is well on its way to looking at more like the society around it. daniel lak, al jazeera, new york. >> finally, tonight's: largest 3-d scanner to make it. america tonight is next. we will see you back here tomorrow night.

on amerisey, an in-depth look a gun violence and the staggering cost of a single gunshot wound. >> if you were to add it up, what would you say was the total bill from start to now? dollar. >> 10 million dollar? >> $10 million. >> the toll it takes on family and caregivers. >> 20 people have been shot, probably 200, 300 people have been affected. >> who is picking up the bill for america's gun violence epidemic? the u.s. puts the islamic state in the crosshairs.