2012-03-11

WILD AND DEADLY Imagine if teenagers ruled the world and threw the wildest, craziest party ever staged. Well that party has already started, and it’s on the must do list for every young Australian heading overseas. Until recently Vang Vieng in Laos was a sleepy Muslim fishing village. Today it’s a thrill seekers paradise where anything goes and there are no limits. But with the buckets of booze, pulsing dance music and river tubing - death is stalking. In the past two months three young Australian fun seekers have died, making Laos and Thailand the most dangerous place in the rest of the world for Australians. Eighty five Aussies died there last year alone. This seemingly harmless stunt – floating down a river for several days in a tyre inner tube while stopping frequently to drink and dance, has taken a sinister turn. Unscrupulous operators are selling alcohol and illicit drugs to legion of backpackers, and the result is leaving families burying their children. This special Sunday Night investigation follows the harrowing stories of a number of Aussies who nearly died during what they thought was going to be the adventure of a lifetime. DECEIVED AND IGNORED It is the shocking scandal affecting up to 9,000 Australian women and their families. In a Sunday Night investigation, we investigate the PIP breast implant disaster, and the ticking time bomb terrifying women around the world. A month after the French manufacturer was charged for using industrial grade silicone to make cheap implants, we speak to women suffering the side effects of chemical leakages flowing through their bodies. And the explosive interview with one victim whose child is dying, a child she breastfed with leaking PIP implants. As Rahni Sadler discovers, Australian women are blaming the PIP manufacturers of being terrorists, while the TGA has failed to recommend their immediate removal. SWEET POISON It’s addictive, affects our brains and is so toxic it’s responsible for increased levels of obesity, heart disease and even cancer. Yet most of us spoon it onto our breakfast cereals every morning, and it’s added to just about every manufactured food we eat. Sugar – one of Australia’s most lucrative primary industries, is sweet poison. Guest reporter Peter FitzSimons investigates the truth about this white gold. A few weeks ago, flabby and the wrong side of fifty, he read a book about sugar and it changed his life. He stopped eating sugar and the weight has dropped off. New claims suggest sugar is so addictive it should be regulated like tobacco and alcohol. The world’s most popular chef Jamie Oliver tells Peter we are abusing our children by feeding them food laced with sugar. The average Australian now eats about 33kgs of it a year. Peter goes in search of answers and asks - is sugar really bad for you, or is it just the victim of bad PR? DANNY De VITO At nearly 70 years of age, Danny DeVito has lost none of the spark that led him to becoming one of the best character actors of his day. This week, he talks openly to Ross Coulthart about love, life and living with good mate Michael Douglas. Boasting one of the longest marriages in Hollywood, Danny talks success, and what he thinks of his former Twins co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger: “ a meat head – he’s a thick headed meat head”.