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>> and now bbc "newsnight." >> the replacement hip implants that could lead to a toxic metals. our investigation by is that some implants continue to have dangerous complications. also the manufacturer of replacements hips are around the world. are they safe? >> it is really quite significant, the damage. >> before his capture, he was colonel gaddafi's right-hand man. we speak to the loyal general about the last days of the regime. the millionaire claimed that he could deliver the white house republicans.

herman cain holds forth on u.s. politics. >> washington is broken, it does not solve things and it continues to move farther down the road. >> they have given many people a new lease on life, free from infirmity and pain, but investigation into replacement hip joints has found that many people might have been exposed to toxic metals from the failing implants. patients with all artificial hip joints should undergo annual test in case they develop serious diseases. >> replacing a hip is about as physical as it gets for a surgeon. as tough as the operation is,

are around 70,000 people a year have hip replacement. for most people, this is life changing. they are taking away years of pain and disability but for some, there can be a down side. searchers are concerned that the replacements are wearing down faster than they should. there are fears that it is poisoning patience. >> no clinic or trials were done. one group is calling this a large uncontrolled experiment involving millions of patients. following on from the breast implants scandal, they say the whole system is not protecting the public. it was a surprise when the doctor told this woman that she had to have a key hit

replacements. >> i was told i was going to get a new joint which was a state of the art joint with metal and it will last for almost my lifetime. >> she had two hips put in. they were fitted in 2005 but they have already failed. >> i have swelling in my lower abdomen and an ultrasound and they said that there is fluid that should not be there. that does concern me. >> this is your surgeon. he is about to replace one of her failed implants. >> there is no other explanation other than the implant is wearing out abnormally. time.ad we got here in there's metal debris everywhere.

this is quite significant, the damage. >> he is taking the debris all around her failed hip joint. they're concerned about the effect of the metals and the blood. >> we have seen 20, 50 times the normal levels. >> tony has removed the heads of the hip implants and it is clearly damaged. >> that is where it starts and it goes right down to the floor. that is the worn out part. do can see that goes right are around. this is mechanical wear and that is the problems that you get. >> her hip has been sent off to experts. this is one of several centers around the country trying to figure out what is going wrong. let's see what they found.

the hip joint is put onto a scanner which maps the damage. the engineers analyze how much has worn away. >> we can see damage from the head. we can see them in contact and that can generate some wearing inside of the patient. >> this is an engineer that has analyzed hundreds of failed hip joints. >> they are feeling at rates that we did not expect. by the time -- we need to get to the bottom of this and explain in what is going on. >> the old version for made of plastic and they were wearing down. they thought that metal would be more durable option. some types to work well in young active men. how have these failing pieces been allowed to get on to the

market? the scandal of breast implants exposed a failure of regulators to protect patients and caused a public outcry. the same failure of regulations has led to thousands of patients needing their hips replaced. >> this is a long costly process to get drugs on to the market. they have to be tested in test tubes and on animals before they are used by you and me. you think it would be the same for artificial hips and breast implants but it is not. doctors are concerned that there is not enough regulation to stop harmful devices from being put into patients. >> we realize that the current system is catastrophic. the requirements of the clinical data, you have to have ongoing trials.

these could not be completely any more different. my estimate is that you can get a device through with a review and no requirements. >> you are telling me that you could get this to the market was just two to three days worth of looking at the literature? >> yes. about 70 have gone through this system. >> if you want to get a new drug on to the market, you have to go to a central regulator to get approval but for a new artificial hip or breast implant, the manufacturers can go to any of dozens of companies who are all competing for their business. they used the british standards institution which is better known for giving marks for things like baby buggies. they would not tell us what tests they had done on the artificial hip because of client

confidentiality. they said that they were bound by strict obligations of confidentiality. many have been very lax in checking these implants. an e-mail that we saw from a senior project manager said that it is a fun fact that in south africa you could do this if you wanted. it is shocking that they could move the design without checking to see how well it works in patients. the head became bigger and the stem became shorter. >> the data tells us in the mid- 90s, people were saying that there was meddled increasing from the hip implants. by 2006, 2007, there was enough data to make this concern. >> as early as 2005, internal documents show that they were aware of the damage.

they are being sued by thousands of patients who have had to have their hips replaced. they have put a $3 billion because of the potential compensation costs. this is an expert witness in the legal case. originally, he was trained by the company for the use of the implants. now, and his hospital has recalled all patients with metal on metal chemical hips. >> we have tested them all, screen to them, stand them and we know what is happening. we found out that out of 170 patients, 75 failures related to medical debris. >> they told us that the patient safety is the top priority and that clinical data showed that these were safe. they told the company about

damaged tissue in 2000 and 8. in 2010, a senior executive said he was concerned about the metal on metal implants. he said "i fear that this is more serious than we first saw but this is still on sale. tony has fitted maureen with a new hip. >> the operation went really well. there was lot of damage there but we got in quiet in time. >> thank goodness. >> operation cost around 12,000 pounds. if the problem is widespread, it will cost tens of millions. >> now, with the world's eye on the violence in syria, the libyan revolution has become old

news. colonel gaddafi's former head of security has given "news night" his first interview since he was captured last year. he was arrested when a nato airstrike destroyed a convoy in which colonel gaddafi was traveling. we visited the general in his jail cell in misrata. this was where the gaddafi's regime made its last hand. -- last stand. it was too this town that they escaped after the fall of tripoli. then, there world crumbled. >> the rest is military personnel. the situation was terminal. we did not know what other people's feelings or views were.

there was no hospitals or doctors or power or medicine or to vacation. we had returned to a primitive lifestyle. on the 20th of october, gaddafi, seen at the end was near, tried to flee with his last most loyal men in a convoy of armed four by fours. they were heading to a village wert the dictator had been born. spotting them from the air, the foreign friends of the revolution had other ideas. >> the nato hit us twice, once while we were moving, but the impact was not on our vehicle, it was to cars behind us. our car stopped, the airbag deployed, and the engine seized.

we had to change to another car. only gaddafi's suffered a small wound from the glass shards. all the vehicles group at a power station and again we were targeted by nato planes and attacked forcefully. we got out of the vehicles and the firing continued and people were shot or suffered burns. >> with survivors of the convoy trying to get away on foot, gaddafi and his son were captured and then murdered. the general was taken alive the wounded. in jail today, he remains unrepentant in his loyalty to the former leader and he is still urging people to follow his ideas.

>> gaddafi was in power for 42 years. he has strong ideas and a tremendous support. i don't think that will disappear overnight. he is dead, that is true, but his ideas as a philosophy or or a politician will live on. these may carry on and be adopted by non libyans. all of the philosophers of the world have their ideas adopted after their death. >> the general has been in prison for four months. like many others, he has been held in a legal limbo. you seen a lawyer? you know whether you will face a trial? >> no. >> do you know whether you will face charges?

>> no. >> how do you feel? >> let's try and look out the window. i cannot foresee the future. i don't know what the mood on the street is like. i have no contact or visits from the outside world. i cannot tell you what the future were told -- will hold. >> the general is accused of involvement in many crimes. but as our interview drew to a close, the prison director challenged his detainee to provide more information. >> i wish you would be more cooperative. >> i swear to god, and the question that you have passed to me, i have answered.

you must trust me even if it is a contrary answer. >> this is an interview and you are in custody. it is possible that you are afraid. however, the questions are there for you to answer whether now or in the internal section. >> i answered you, i swear to god i have no further information about this evidence that someone was passed on. if i had in the information, why wouldn't i tell you? it is >> the reason i asked, why keep this information from us. there is some information you have not given us. >> no, no, whatever i had, i gave. sometimes you think i have information that i don't have.

why would i want to keep information from you? >> the captain accused his captives aof his involvement in a massacre in 1996. >> he stated that you were in an office with the head of intelligence and you saw an explosion. >> no, no, you have got the documents. >> we left the onetime head of the libyan people's guard. many believe that he can on what many of the old regime's secrets. his prospects seem bleak. >> the front runner to become the republican candidate to challenge barack obama for the presidency is mitt romney. at least he is this week once more after winning two primaries.

this is set to run until the party convention this summer. this has demonstrated that no one is meaner to a politician than someone who claims to be on the same side. it just ask herman cain. he believed that he could deliver the white house for the republicans that he was forced to foul out of the race. -- she was forced to bow out of the race. >> herman cain was the are the republican who inspired the bumper sticker, the pizza man zero ways delivers. toss the beets and man always delivers. -- the pizza man always delivers. he earned the accolade of the most covered candidate in the race. his tehran orthodox candidacy had everything that the media

could ask for. -- his unorthodox canada see had everything that the media could ask for. he had viral video is, foreign policy fumbles, but it was his folksy qualities that propelled him from successful businessman to the political front line. he was confirmed as the republican front runner and he briefly led president obama in the polls. a stellar corporate record had made his name. he famously grabbed the opposite the to turn around two floundering businesses. -- the opportunity to turn around two philandering floundering

businesses. he said that he was part of a solution that he -- but ultimately allegations undid his campaign. >> the charges i absolutely reject. they simply did not happen. >> finally, after sliding poll results, he announced he was suspending in his run for the presidency. the godfather of common sense fell afoul of what thomas jefferson called the thankless office before even assuming the white house. did you enjoy your run for the nomination? >> yes, i did. the best part was the

interaction and the feedback and the response of the people and secondly, their response to the bold solutions that i presented as part of my campaign. >> you sounded pretty bitter when you quit. >> i wasn't bitter, i was angry. the false accusations could not be proved and how do you prove you did not do something or that you would not somewhere that someone said, the bottom line was that it was my word against someone else's but they had no proof. i was going to stay of the race but because of the coverage, this was causing undue pain on my wife and family. >> why do you think you could not cut it in the race? >> i did feel if i could cut it

in the race. i believe that i had appealed to the american people and i proposed a very common-sense solutions to many of our problems. i did not speak in political speak, i had specific solutions. i cut it in the race, that was not the issue. >> what about your post that it cannot name the president of is pakistan -- the president of uzbekistan. >> i was driving home the point that you don't have to be international experts to make the right decisions once you have the right information and once you have an opportunity to analyze the situation. it is impossible to answer thousands of a hypothetical questions about hundreds of countries without knowing

exactly what it is that you are supposed to talk about. i was driving home the point that i was not going to worry about not being able to answer those questions. >> but an american president has to know that sort of stuff, doesn't he? >> you don't have to know the head of every state in the world before you become president. that was my point. sure, you would need to know that if that was the relationship we were trying to cultivate or trying to evaluate or analyze but to pick a random country and expect a candidate to know off the top of their head, i think that is unrealistic. the american people agree with me. >> when you say the american people agree with you, you also made a distinction in one of your comments about how the there was a political class in your country, a political class -- there was a political class

in our country, the media class, and the people. >> the political establishment has a certain tendency as far as candidates that they would like to support. the political class, and i mean everyone in washington, d.c., they really make decisions and proposals to sustain the status quo. the media class of those that cover politics, business and everything else and they also sometimes are very biased in their coverage of stories and they do what i call -- everything that you say is a candidate, especially if you get the lead. the people who try to take care of their family, trying to save for their kids' education, they want a job, they're working hard, and they see that in the u.s., washington is broken, it does not solve things, it

continues to move down the road and we had a serious financial challenge that right now they are not adequately addressing. >> it sounds as though your system is pretty broke. >> it is broke. that is the word i used when describing it. when you have over a 16 trillion dollar national debt and over five trillion of that occurred within the last three years, we have a serious problem. we had to borrow from other countries to be able to serve the debt. when you look at the fact that we are now spending $10 billion a day in order to serve the dead, we are broke and we have a -- in order to serve the debt, we are broke and we had a serious financial issue.

>> that is all for us today. goodbye. >> funding for this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and david solutions for small businesses and major corporations. what can we do for you?

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