Kill himself. She says he couldnt have been clearer about how he wanted his life to end. He asked me to hand him the bottle and i did. I had the dosing syringe in my hand. He took the cap off and he drank what was remaining in the bottle. Cooper could you have stopped him . I could have, i think. I mean, he did it pretty quickly. But no, i didnt try to stop him. Cooper should terminally ill people be able to end their own lives . Thats our story tonight. Safer this is inside the Washington Monument the moment an earthquake struck washington, d. C. , in 2011. One of the nations most treasured memorials now had to close. It would take a superman to put it back together again. But in fact, it was clark kent in a suit and tie, armed with just a blackberry and a passion for american history. A shorter version of it. Safer he is David Rubenstein, and he spent hundreds of millions of his own fortune to help save the monument and some of the other great symbols of american democracy. Im steve kroft. Im lesley stahl. Im morley safer. Im anderson cooper. Im bill whitaker. Im scott pelley. Those stories tonight on 60 minutes. Cbs money watch update wrotd to you in part by glor glor good evening. Tomorrow Congress Begins its 60day review of the iran nuclear deal. Cuba reopens its embassy in washington helping restore relations will end the u. S. Economic embar get and banks reopen in greece with restrictions on withdrawals. Im jeff glor, cbs news. Hey honey what ya doing . Getting my free credit score at credit karma. I got great credit. When was the last time you checked . Thats a lotta dough daddyo. We gotta check your credit. Hmmmm. Your credit is outa sight alright you know Credit Scores change. Arent you curious to know what yours is now . Still got it. Credit karma, get your free score now. See, weve completely remodeled the kitchen. Cozy. Lets go check out the pantry its our dunkin dream room. Amazing. Delicious Dunkin Donuts coffee. Pick some up where you buy groceries. Try our kcups today. America runs on dunkin. The foot emerges from its long winter hibernation. And preening is a must. Instantly, smoother, Beautiful Skin starts to be revealed. And the mating process begins. The dr. Scholls dreamwalk express pedi stahl what do cars precisionguided missiles, and the television youre watching right now have in common . They all depend on something called rare earth elements unusual metals that are sprinkled inside almost every piece of high tech you can think of. Most people have never heard of them. But we have become so reliant on rare earths that, a few years ago, an intense global power struggle broke out over their free flow. The reason is that one country has a virtual monopoly roughly 90 of the mining, refining, and processing of rare earths, china. And in 2010, it used that power to disrupt the worlds supply. As we first reported last march, its especially troubling because it was the United States that started the rare earth revolution in the first place. It all began here at this mine in Mountain Pass, california, an hour west of las vegas, when geologists first identified rare earth elements deep in the Mojave Desert. They were considered geological oddities until the 60s, when it was discovered that one of these elements, europium, enhanced the color red in tv sets, and soon the rare earth industry was born. Cbs presents this program in color Constantine Karayannopoulos rare earth chemistry is fascinating. Theres so many more things that we could be doing with rare earths. Stahl Constantine Karayannopoulos, chairman of molycorp, which has owned and operated the Mountain Pass mine for six decades, took us to the heart of the operation. Is this considered a big mine . Karayannopoulos in terms of rare earth standards, yes. Its one of the biggest in the world. Stahl are we actually walking on rare earth elements right now . Karayannopoulos were physically on the ore body. Stahl we are right on it. Karayannopoulos it starts at the top of the mine, then comes down, and were walking on it and it goes in that direction. Stahl so, what are rare earth elements . If you ever took high school chemistry, you learned that theyre clumped together at the end of the periodic table atomic numbers 57 through 71 and they have difficultto pronounce greek or scandinavian names. Karayannopoulos lanthanum, cerium, neodymium, praseodymium, samarium, terbium. Stahl some of them are phosphorescent. Erbium amplifies light, and is used in fiberoptic cables. Gadolinium has Magnetic Properties and is used in m. R. I. Machines and xrays. As for neodymium . You may be carrying some of it in your pocket. Karayannopoulos next time your phone vibrates, think of us because the vibration motor is a small motor that contains a tiny neodymium magnet in it. Stahl karayannopoulos showed us around a new model home to illustrate that rare earths are making our appliances Energy Efficient, like stateoftheart refrigerators, touchscreen thermostats, Energy Efficient light bulbs, the air conditioning systems. Theyre also in our cars in the form of catalytic converters sensors, and hybrid car batteries. Karayannopoulos hybrids, in particular, use a lot more because they contain electric motors that would not function without rare earths. Stahl a prius has roughly 25 pounds of rare earths. And theyre hidden in plain sight in our every day lives, in our computers and gadgets. Even the lights and cameras we used to film this story are chock full of rare earths. What im getting from you is that modern life depends on these elements. Karayannopoulos absolutely. Stahl despite their name rare earths are not rare. Small amounts can be found in your backyard. Theyre trapped in what looks like ordinary rock. But there are only a few places on earth with concentrations high enough to mine. Karayannopoulos rare earths normally are found in very, very low concentrations. This is probably running something in the 25 grade. Stahl thats good . Karayannopoulos which is remarkable. To anyone who has ever worked with rare earths, this is a thing of beauty. Stahl but getting the rare earths out of that rock is nasty business, requiring toxic acids and lots of water. In fact, the mine was shut down by the state of california in 1998 after radioactive water seeped into the surrounding Mojave Desert from an underground pipe. The mine lay dormant for a decade, giving china an opportunity. Dan mcgroarty the chinese made a very conscious decision to enter that industry. Stahl Dan Mcgroarty was special assistant to president george h. W. Bush, and today advises the u. S. Government on critical materials. When the molycorp mine closed, he says china was already well on its way to becoming the king of rare earths. Mcgroarty theres a point at which the lines cross. The United States production declines, chinese productions ramping up. Those lines cross somewhere around 1986. Stahl so how did they pull it off . What were the factors that allowed them to basically take this away from us . Mcgroarty well, the advantage of lower labor costs would be a place to start. Also, environmentally, very. Almost no Environmental Constraints around mining, safety considerations for the miners doing mining, in huge contrast to the United States. So, that translates directly into lower pricing. And lower pricing can push other people out of the market. Stahl and thats basically what happened . Mcgroarty thats basically what happened. Stahl the chinese also had orders from the top. In a littlenoticed speech in 1992, Deng Xiaoping signaled chinas intention to corner the market. What exactly did he say . Mcgroarty the middle east has oil. China has rare earths. Stahl he actually said that, Deng Xiaoping . Mcgroarty actually said that. I think its fair to say, at that point, people in the rest of the world, who had been saying, what are. What is he talking about . Stahl just went right over our heads. Mcgroarty i think so. Stahl did we just not foresee what they foresaw . Mcgroarty its extraordinary if they actually foresaw all the uses. Our designers and developers advanced the miniaturized applications for laptops and cell phones, while the chinese were going after the metals and materials out of which these things are actually built. Stahl how did they get the knowhow . Mcgroarty an enormous amount of investment. Its kind of like the chinese moon shot, the moon program. Stahl china poured billions into the industry, ignoring the consequences. We obtained this video from a freelance cameraman showing the area near baotou, chinas rare earth capital, where the air land and water are so saturated with chemical toxins, the chinese have had to relocate entire villages. This is one of the few places where rare earths are turned into metals, which are then alloyed, or blended, into things like permanent magnets. Ed richardson these are magnets that once you magnetize them, they stay that way. Stahl ed richardson, president of the u. S. Magnetic materials association, says the most important use of rare earths is in magnets. Only a small amount can produce magnets able to lift a thousand times their weight. Richardson this is a cell phone. Stahl he showed us how miniaturized rare earth magnets can be. Richardson so im going to take it apart layer by layer and were going to get to the point where we can actually see the magnets, the rare earth magnets, that are inside there. Stahl oh, let me see this. Richardson theres three little magnets in there. Stahl oh, one, two, three. Richardson right. If you put the paperclip on, you can see how it sticks. Stahl and this little tiny thing is the speaker. Richardson right. This is how devices have gotten small, very powerful, because the magnets are so powerful, you dont have to use much of it. Stahl the u. S. Developed this technology, but china bought most of it right out from under us. For instance, in 1995, china bought the biggest American Rare EarthMagnet Company magnequench, which was based in indiana. Richardson when they bought the factory, they now had the patents. They now had the equipment. And they actually had some of the magnequench employees in the United States go to china and teach the people how to make the products. Stahl did we not understand the strategic importance of keeping that industry here . Richardson we didnt get it. And unfortunately, the technology was transferred to china before that technology was appreciated. And now, were seeing so many, for instance, Defense Systems that are dependent on it. Stahl does that make us dependent on china for our Defense Systems . Richardson oh, we are very dependent on china. Stahl we are dependent on china for our weaponry. Richardson right. Stahl a prime example of that is the new f35 fighter jet, the most technologically advanced weapons system in history. Each one contains nearly half a ton of rare earths. Former white house official Dan Mcgroarty says thats just for starters. Mcgroarty the guidance systems on Weapons Systems and tomahawk cruise missile, any of the smart bombs have rare earths in them. Lasers. Id be hardpressed to name anything that we would consider Worth Building today and Going Forward that would not have a rare earth compound in it. Stahl because of this, because of the monopoly on rare earths, does china threaten our National Security . Mcgroarty unchecked, yes. Stahl what finally woke up the u. S. Government was an incident at sea in 2010. A chinese fishing trawler rammed a Japanese Coast Guard ship in a territorial dispute. The japanese seized the boats captain, and two weeks later china stopped shipping rare earths to japan. Mcgroarty the chinese cut them off. And for 30 to 40 days, the rare earths did not flow to japan. So it was a real shot across the bow for the japanese that this is something that you have to be worried with. Stahl it was a wakeup call. Finally, 20 years after Deng Xiaopings speech, rare earths were on the u. S. Radar screen. Barack obama this case involves something called rare earth materials. Stahl president obama announced a formal complaint to the World Trade Organization against china for creating shortages for foreign buyers and last august, the w. T. O. Ruled against beijing. No one in the Obama Administration would talk to us on camera about rare earths and our dependence on china, including the department of energy, the pentagon, or the u. S. Trade representative. Even the private sector didnt want to discuss the problem. We tried to get interviews with heads of companies that use the magnets and other products coming out of china, and they would not talk to us. Is there fear in hightech companies that if they Say Something negative, maybe china wont sell them what they need . Mcgroarty i think that there is grave concern in these companies, but perhaps not a willingness to talk about that on a street corner. So what is the u. S. Doing to restore the industry here . Out in california, molycorp was allowed to reopen after it developed new technology that protects the environment. But even when its at full capacity, the mine will only produce a fraction of the worlds supply of rare earths. The pentagon has begun stockpiling rare earths, and industry is researching new technologies that would replace them. Do you get any help from the u. S. Government . They want to have a rare earth industry here. Karayannopoulos encouragement, yeah. Stahl encouragement, thats it . Karayannopoulos yeah. Stahl the government is not offering incentives like tax breaks or subsidies that would lure businesses into the market. What needs to change to bring more of the industry back to the United States . Karayannopoulos first of all, we need to take a longterm view. It took 20 years to lose the dominant position, at least 20 years. And its probably going to take us ten, 15 years, if we execute, for some of these supply chains to start coming back. Stahl but trouble is once again looming for the u. S. Rare earth industry. Since restarting operations two years ago, molycorps Mountain Pass mine has yet to turn a profit, and is so deeply in debt, it recently filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. See how rare earths make common conveniences. Stahl this is the microphone. Right. Stahl . On the cell phone . Go to 60minutesovertime. Com. Sponsored by lyrica. Before fibromyalgia, i was the goto person. I was energetic. Then the chronic, widespread pain drained my energy. My doctor and i agreed moving more helps ease fibromyalgia pain. She also prescribed lyrica. For some patients, lyrica significantly relieves fibromyalgia pain and improves physical function. With less pain, i feel better. Lyrica may cause serious allergic reactions or suicidal thoughts or actions. Tell your doctor right away if you have these, new or worsening depression or unusual changes in mood or behavior. Or swelling, trouble breathing rash, hives, blisters, muscle pain with fever tired feeling or blurry vision. 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Smash it make the call and ask your doctor if jublia is right for you. New larger size now available. Cooper should doctors and family members be allowed to help terminally ill people end their own lives rather than succumb to the last ravages of disease . The question has been the subject of a fierce and long running, statebystate battle. In the vast majority of states the practice is currently not allowed, or else its unclear and quite possibly illegal. Our story tonight is about a woman who was prosecuted for allegedly helping her 93year old father kill himself. Barbara mancini lives in pennsylvania. As we first reported last year her father was terminally ill and in pain, and had repeatedly said he wanted to die. One morning while she was caring for him, mancini says he asked her to hand him his bottle of morphine. Barbara mancini he asked me to hand him the bottle and i did. I had the dosing syringe in my hand. He took the cap off and he drank what was remaining in the bottle. Cooper could you have stopped him . Mancini i could have, i think. I mean, he did it pretty quickly. But no, i didnt try to stop him. Cooper this is Barbara Mancini and her father, joe yourshaw, in happier times, at barbaras wedding in 1994. Yourshaw had served in europe during world war ii and earned a bronze star in the battle of the bulge. Barbara had always known him to be industrious and strong minded. He was active well into his 80s. But in 2013, he was 93 and suffering from kidney disease, cardiovascular problems, and a host of other ailments. His medical records say doctors expected him to live six months or less, and he was tellin