Letters

Your report on high blood pressure is both a timely and critical message for every American [Dec. 6]. In your article, you remarked on the role that nitric oxide plays in relaxing blood vessels. When I shared the Nobel Prize in 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 OF MEDICINE 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

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 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, Calif.

Pakistan Responds

Your report "hiding in Plain Sight" [Nov. 29] claimed Pakistani authorities were ignoring Taliban fugitives who have taken refuge in our southern city of Quetta. No Taliban member is welcome in Pakistan. Our country is a key, vital partner of the U.S. in the war on terrorism. President Pervez Musharraf has ordered more than 70,000 troops to police Pakistan's southwestern border with Afghanistan. The President has repeatedly made it clear that he will spare no effort to rid Pakistan of all inimical foreign elements.

TALAT WASEEM, PRESS COUNSELOR EMBASSY OF PAKISTAN TO THE U.S. Washington

An Honest Gift Card

Re your article on gift cards and some companies' practice of subtracting a monthly dormancy fee from the value of their cards [Dec. 6]: It deeply offends our company that it was associated in any way with this article, since our gift-card policies are the exact opposite of those criticized in your report. A photograph of the Sharper Image gift card appeared prominently in your table of contents, next to the statement "Gift cards can lose their value if you don't use them in time." Another, smaller image of our gift card, along with 20 other cards, appeared in a photograph with the full story. Sharper Image gift cards have absolutely no limitations--no expiration time, no fees, no service charges, no interest, no dormancy charges and no fees for carried balances. While we believe it is important to warn unwitting consumers about the tactics of unprincipled gift-card sellers, it is a serious mistake to imply that the Sharper Image card has any similarities to those of offending retailers that offer cards with fees and conditions attached.

ROBERT SCHULTZ, VICE PRESIDENT BUSINESS AND LEGAL AFFAIRS SHARPER IMAGE CORP. San Francisco

Is Reform for Real?

Columnist Joe Klein argued that the U.S. "needs a single, unified computer network that contains--at the very least--all the available information on the world's bad guys" [Dec. 6]. That may be correct, but the rest of the intelligence- reform movement spawned by the 9/11 commission is just a Bush Administration ruse to make the "system" take the blame for the government's mistakes. The intelligence warnings about 9/11 were clear, but no one was paying attention.

TIMOTHY C. HOHN Lake Forest Park, Wash.

Klein says President Bush cannot support both the 9/11 commission reforms and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's policy preferences. But as the passage of the bill has shown, Bush will continue to do what he wants to do; he has always had his own agenda. It is not the neoconservatives who have taken over his mind. Bush is resolute, certain, and says what he means and means what he says. The danger to the U.S., however, is that in the past four years, the President has been shown to be bullheaded, inexperienced, closed-minded, dishonest and overly confident.

MAGGIE LEIGH Fredericksburg, Va.

Debating the War

TIME reported that Iraqis who are resisting the U.S. have moved into urban areas of the country [Dec. 6]. Until we understand that the Iraqi "insurgents" are freedom fighters struggling to get occupiers out of their country, much like the French under Nazi occupation, the U.S. won't really be able to own up to its inevitable defeat. We are in a war that should never have been, in which even those we are pretending to liberate are fighting against us. Is it any wonder that the U.S. has become the most hated nation in the world?

TONI BOUTWELL Myrtle Beach, S.C.

Iran's Nuclear Plans

As an American of Persian heritage, I fully understand the concern expressed by the U.S. and European countries over Iran's possible development of weapons-based nuclear technology [Dec. 6]. I can also empathize with Iranians who aspire to move peacefully and democratically toward a strong, independent country. Paradoxically, the U.S.'s extreme position on the nuclear issue has only complicated politics in Iran, giving an undeserved edge to the hard-liners while forcing the democratic-reform movement to take a backseat. That situation must be resolved soon for Iran to move ahead.

DAVID N. RAHNI Pleasantville, N.Y.

Efforts are under way to make Iran give up the development of uranium-enrichment technology because that nation may achieve the capability of making a bomb. Yet the U.S. will go on maintaining its pile of atomic weapons. Let the U.S. set the example by ridding itself of its nuclear weapons. Then it can expect the rest of the world to follow.

RAMJI R. ABINASHI Amersham, England

High-Powered Design

"Cosmic Conundrum" [Nov. 29] explored the "anthropic principle," the proposition that the universe is "uncannily well suited to the existence of life." Just as physicists are ultimately baffled by the laws of the universe, physicians and surgeons spend their entire lives trying to comprehend the complexities of the body's systems. The more we understand human physiology, the more we believe that a higher power must be responsible for the body's creation as well as the varying outcomes (good and bad) we see after treatment of seemingly similar diseases. The human body is more complex than the most sophisticated computer. The longer I practice medicine, the more I believe in the greatness of God.

TALAT CHUGHTAI, M.D. Toronto

I consider it the scientists' job to find the ultimate truth, even if, as your article reported, "most scientists consider appeals to a supernatural designer to be an intellectual dead end." If God truly exists, he will be around in spite of all denials and scientific theories.

EDDIE M.P. MAK Hong Kong

Fans vs. Players

After reading your report on the brawl involving basketball's Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons and courtside fans [Dec. 6], I realized that one word failed to make it into the story: respect. Would anyone else's reaction have been different from Pacers forward Ron Artest's after getting hit by a full cup of beer? Artest was made a scapegoat by the National Basketball Association. To me, that shows that the NBA and the fans do not respect the players. NBA basketball is played by some of the most magnificent athletes in the world, and they are intense competitors. Contact sports often create off-court fisticuffs. Suspending Artest for the rest of the season is an injustice. The NBA front office needs a shake-up.

JACK KOPSTEIN Chilliwack, B.C.

Poor Intelligence

"In Your Face at the CIA" [Nov. 29] reported on the resignation of some of the best officials at the Central Intelligence Agency. The loss of those people will only add to the CIA's ineffectiveness. Though the agency has been quite successful in collecting intelligence data from different parts of the world, it has failed to discover and foil the plans of many criminals and terrorists. The CIA has failed to prevent a number of attacks, including those on 9/11. In fact, the agency has often been misled.

SYEDFAHAD AKHTAR Karachi

A New Way into Space

The fascinating success of Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne [Nov. 29] opens a brilliantly lit pathway out of the gloom and disappointment in which man has been stranded since the Challenger and Columbia space-shuttle disasters. SpaceShipOne minimizes risks to itself and its crew. SpaceShipOne works its way into space and is the most human-friendly space vehicle man has yet devised.

ASHOKA WEERAKKODY Colombo, Sri Lanka

That's Not Entertainment

Your item "Reality Bytes" reported on the Internet game JFK Reloaded [Dec. 6]. It is absolutely despicable that people would make a computer game about a real-life tragedy like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The creators of the game seem to accept the Warren Commission's finding that Lee Harvey Oswald was the lone gunman involved, even though many documentaries question that conclusion. JFK Reloaded makes killing seem like a game, and is very insensitive to the surviving Kennedys and all who admired Kennedy's presidency.

ANDRE MOLLON Victoria, B.C

Man-Made Deity

"Is God In Our Genese?" was interesting but hardly surprising [Oct. 25]. The answer to the basic question of whether religion was created by man from cues sent from above or a sense of the divine evolved in us has long seemed obvious to Northern Europeans of my generation: man made God out of a need for a God and benefited from the invention. I was, however, surprised by the reverence the story showed toward religion. But then it struck me that this attitude might be a genuine example of the American mind-set--that religion really matters. That goes a long way toward explaining the otherwise inexplicable fact that dynamic, energetic and in many other ways admirable Americans re-elected Bush.

CHRISTER ALBACK Vasteras, Sweden

Better Than Nothing

In his commentary "Do They Know It's Simplistic?" [Dec. 13], Simon Robinson criticizes the remake of the Band Aid song Do They Know It's Christmas? Robinson objects to the song because it "reinforces the popular impression that all Africans are starving as they wait for heroic Westerners to come and save them." He notes that most Africans are not starving and that democracy has begun to take hold. I agree with Robinson's point that the song draws an out-of-date picture of Africa, but in a time when egoism has become a new lifestyle, we should acknowledge every bit of goodwill that is offered. Even though Africa has changed and some countries have got rid of their dictatorships and established democracies, there are still many problematic regions left--Sudan, for example--where help is desperately needed. Let us appreciate Band Aid and African activists for doing something instead of sitting around twiddling their thumbs.

SIMONE UNVERDORBEN Augsburg, Germany