Letters

The Stealth Killer
Your report on high blood pressure is a timely and critical message for every person [Dec. 13]. In your article, you remarked on the role that nitric oxide plays in relaxing blood vessels. When I shared the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1998 for my research on the role of nitric oxide in cardiovascular health, I knew we had only begun to understand the importance of this unique molecule. Nitric oxide is critically important in reducing blood pressure and promoting total cardiovascular health. I am convinced by my ongoing research that reduced levels of nitric oxide production in the body are directly related to the progression of cardiovascular-disease symptoms, especially high blood pressure. By acting as the sole signaling molecule for blood-vessel relaxation, nitric oxide is central to blood-pressure regulation. Such observations have been made in laboratory research. The natural production of nitric oxide in the body can be supported by supplementing the diet with the amino acid l-arginine in combination with antioxidant nutrients and by engaging in a moderate exercise program.
Louis J. Ignarro, Ph.D.
Center for Vascular Biology
David Geffen School ofMedicine at UCLA
Los Angeles

The emphasis on the risks of high blood pressure couldn’t have been more timely. And the image of an African-American male on the cover, along with statistics showing the increased risk faced by blacks, couldn’t be more appropriate. Although I am a physically fit black man, I still must resort to exercise, medication and dietary changes to battle hypertension. Yet there is a growing debate in medical circles about the ethics of race-based medical research. I only wish my younger brother Rodney were here to participate in the argument. He was in great shape, lifted weights, had nearly zero body fat and lived a healthy lifestyle with his family. Rodney went to bed a few weeks ago, feeling as if he simply had the flu. He died in his sleep. An autopsy showed no signs of long-term heart failure, no evidence of diabetes, no illegal drugs. The cause of death: hypertensive cardiovascular disease. Rodney was 39.
Les Trent, Senior Correspondent
Inside Edition
New York City

Am I the only one who has noticed that it’s practically impossible to find no-salt (or truly low-salt) foods in grocery stores? Where have all the no-salt foods gone? There are many of those new low-fat and low-carb foods, but I bet they contain more sodium to make up for a lack of taste. Nowadays everybody is expected to just take a prescription medication to solve blood-pressure problems. I want to combat hypertension through diet and exercise, not by taking pills. Listen up, marketers: Low carb is out; no salt is in!
Laurel Gruber
Avon Lake, Ohio, U.S.

Instead of looking to drug companies to fix the problem, maybe we should explore the reasons behind the rise in hypertension. Yes, diet and exercise have always been important to achieving a healthy lifestyle. But never before have we been under so much stress. Our children, especially, are scheduled down to every minute of their day. I am concerned about Americans’ pill-taking mentality. But the magic bullet for hypertension is not in a bottle; it’s a healthy lifestyle. How about making the right foods more affordable?
Lisa A. Lee
Rancho Santa Margarita, California, U.S.

Revising the Record
As much as I am happy that Bertelsmann’s CEO Gunter Thielen was included in TIME’s list of the 25 most influential people in business today [Dec. 20], I am sorry to see that certain facts in the accompanying article were incorrect. TIME implies that I left Thielen with debts of $3.5 billion. At the end of my tenure as Bertelsmann’s CEO, its debt was €334 million, the lowest debt of all big media corporations that I know of. Companies like Time Warner, Disney or Vivendi Universal are paying this as annual interest. TIME implies that I left “a slew of dubious new assets.” The truth is that all the acquisitions under my leadership delivered the originally budgeted returns and Bertelsmann faced no write-off. You also write that Bertelsmann owner Reinhard Mohn “was so upset by Middelhoff’s tenure.” Our disagreement was primarily over my desire to make Bertelsmann a publicly held company, not about Bertelsmann’s financial performance. Under my leadership, the company’s revenue nearly doubled, the operating profit (EBITDA) more than tripled, and the equity quintupled. Today the companies acquired during my tenure deliver more than 60% of Bertelsmann’s free cash flow.
Thomas Middelhoff
CEO, Bertelsmann (1998-2002)
London

Don’t Play It Again, Sam
Re Simon Robinson’s commentary on why Africa needs more assistance than fund-raising celebrity sing-along CDs [Dec. 6]: At last, a well-reasoned article about the problems of Africa that doesn’t resort to images of war, famine and despair. As an African, I cringe every time I hear We Are the World and Do They Know It’s Christmas? Sure, Africa needs help. But it does not have to be presented in such a condescending manner.
Temi Babalola
Toronto

Annan Under Fire
Your story on U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the oil-for-food scandal [Dec. 13] conceded that neither Annan nor his son has been found guilty of anything improper or illegal. You noted that Annan is defending himself against a “small but determined band of congressional foes” who have launched five separate congressional investigations. But why focus on problems at the U.N. instead of the real scandal of the day: Lying by the U.S. President to take us to war?
Trey Casimir
Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.

Annan’s problems are not the result of a vendetta by conservatives in the U.S. government. Either Annan wasn’t minding the store during the oil-for-food thievery, or he was part of the scandal. Since the U.S. pays a large share of the U.N.’s
expenses, it is not heavy-handed of us to demand to know how some people received preferential deals to buy Iraqi oil below market price and then reap huge profits. The U.N. has been an anti-American club for years. One of the many reasons its credibility is questioned is the failure to enforce its resolutions against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
Scott Anderson
Green Valley, Arizona, U.S.

So Republican Senator Norm Coleman thinks Annan should resign his post simply because the alleged oil-for-food scandal happened on his watch? What, then, does Coleman think George W. Bush should do? What about the “catastrophic success” of the war in Iraq and the biggest federal deficit in history? Perhaps Coleman can suggest the appropriate punishment for those things.
Jeffrey J. Mariotte
Douglas, Arizona, U.S.

It is absolutely laughable that American politicians have the nerve to accuse Annan of nepotism and conflict of interest. No evidence of wrongdoing by Annan or his son exists, but the same cannot be said of the Bush Administration. It is hard to take seriously the criticism of the U.N. Security Council’s actions regarding Iraq. Considering the comically incorrect material about Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction that was presented to the U.N. by Colin Powell, an apology seems more appropriate. The Bush Administration does not help U.S. credibility by stubbornly insisting there was a link between al-Qaeda and Saddam despite its inability to produce the slightest proof of such an unlikely alliance. Surely, reality still counts. Perhaps it’s time for U.S. conservatives to examine the evidence instead of calling the U.N. biased.
Johan Johansson
Stockholm

Tale of a Traitor
I know the story of Charles Robert Jenkins, the U.S. Army sergeant who left his post in South Korea and fled to the communist North in 1965, will generate a lot of sympathy for him [Dec. 13]. We shouldn’t forget, however, that he deserted because he was scared of going to Vietnam. Legally Jenkins will be a free man after being discharged. But knowing about the Americans who served honorably in Korea, Vietnam, the first Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq, I will have difficulty feeling any sympathy for that coward.
Kazuho Baba
Anaheim, California, U.S.

Jenkins didn’t deserve the leniency he received. His maltreatment by the North Koreans should not be used as an excuse. It was Jenkins’ own actions that led him to the “hell” of North Korea. Deserting the country he was fighting for and then serving as a propaganda tool show his true, cowardly nature. The U.S. has just let a man who is far from a patriot get off lightly — only 25 days of confinement and a loss of pay and benefits. At least Jenkins has decided to live in Japan. The U.S. has no room for traitors.
Bradford Paik
Beaverton, Oregon, U.S.

Man-Made Calamity
Illegal logging in the Philippines has contributed to conditions that allow relatively minor typhoons to become killers [Dec. 13]. The important thing we have learned from the recent calamity that ravaged our country is how we can manage to build our lives again. It’s a hard lesson. If we continue damaging our environment, however, other disasters will remind us that nature’s powerful wrath can destroy the helpless.
Junjun Carballo
Silay City, the Philippines