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A4 Opinion wallowa.com June 29, 2016 Wallowa County Chieftain Trade deals help us avert chaos A nyone who doubts the value of comprehensive international trade agreements should go to France. That nation recently prohibited the importation of cherries from any nation that allows the Voice of the Chieftain use of the insecticide dimethoate. Mind you, the insecticide doesn’t have to be used on cherries; just the fact that it could be used in the U.S. is suficient for French oficials to block U.S. cherries. We won’t comment on French politics. All we know is the French do not allow their farmers to use dimethoate, so they decided no one should. The fact that U.S. cherry growers don’t use it is immaterial, according to French reasoning. They igure that if French farmers can’t use it, nobody can. Because only a relative handful of U.S. cherries — about a half a million dollars worth last year — goes to France, the impact will likely be small. But what would happen if every country started making up its own trade rules, based on the vagaries of local preferences? The answer is chaos. If Nation A won’t allow a crop because a certain pesticide is allowed elsewhere, what’s to stop Nations B, C and D from doing the same — adding pesticides or practices to the list? Soon U.S. farmers who ship their crop overseas would face a gridlock of prohibitions. So would other farmers around the world. Before long, trade would grind to a halt. Ultimately, food shortages would emerge, but not until irreversible damage had been done to farmers and ranchers. All because an agreement that sets the ground rules for trade does not exist. It’s not just about the French and cherries. U.S. olive oil is slapped with a $1,680 per ton duty when entering the European Union. Compare that to the $34 a ton duty the U.S. charges for European olive oil entering this country. U.S. apples face a 7 percent duty when going to Europe, while EU apples face no duty when imported into the U.S. Now in the negotiation stage is the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership between the U.S. and the European Union. Besides addressing market access and tariffs, it would harmonize regulatory standards, such as those related to food safety and the use of pesticides. Many critics of the TTIP have emerged in Europe and elsewhere. They prefer the current system, which appears to rely on sticking it to the U.S. whenever and wherever possible. Like the Trans-Paciic Partnership that was completed last winter, the TTIP will not be perfect. But it will be much better than the alternative, which is chaos. EDITORIAL Correction A June 22 article about Oregon’s minimum wage incor- rectly stated that the Bureau of Labor and Industries divid- ed the state into three wage regions. That model was built into the law and was not set by BOLI. USPS No. 665-100 P.O. Box 338 • Enterprise, OR 97828 Ofice: 209 NW First St., Enterprise, Ore. Phone: 541-426-4567 • Fax: 541-426-3921 Wallowa County’s Newspaper Since 1884 Enterprise, Oregon M eMber O regOn n ewspaper p ublishers a ssOciatiOn P UBLISHER E DITOR R EPORTER R EPORTER N EWSROOM ASSISTANT A D S ALES CONSULTANT G RAPHIC D ESIGNER O FFICE MANAGER Marissa Williams, marissa@bmeagle.com Scot Heisel, editor@wallowa.com Stephen Tool, stool@wallowa.com Kathleen Ellyn, kellyn@wallowa.com editor@wallowa.com Jennifer Powell, jpowell@wallowa.com Robby Day, rday@wallowa.com Cheryl Jenkins, cjenkins@wallowa.com The pillars of heart health As the saying goes: “If something is sad, it breaks your heart. If something is sweet, it warms your heart. If some- thing is precious, it melts your heart. If something is certain, you know it in your heart of hearts.” Our hearts are the center of life it- self. However, one in four deaths (25 percent) in the United States is caused by a broken heart — heart disease. It’s a muscle that can’t take a rest as long as you live. Each day it beats 100,000 times and pumps blood through 60,000 miles of blood vessels. Although the oldest known case of hardening of the arteries (atherosclero- sis) dates back to about 1500 B.C. in an Egyptian mummy, it has only been with- in the last half century that heart disease has become so prevalent that it is now the No. 1 killer of Americans. Each year 735,000 Americans experience a heart attack. Because the heart represents life and love, it deserves a little love from each of us. The pillars to heart health are much like what we would do to care for the pumps that irrigate our ields and water our animals. We need to keep the electri- cal lines fully powered, the inlow pipes clear and the outlow free from block- ages. So, pillar No. 1 for heart health would be to stop smoking. Not only does smok- GUEST COLUMN Dr. Kenneth D. Rose ing harm nearly every organ in our body, it is especially harmful to the heart and blood vessels. The chemicals in tobacco can damage the heart muscle along with the blood vessels by increasing the risk of atherosclerosis. Keeping the heart’s electrical con- duction system functional along with the internal workings is critical. Pillar No. 2 is to keep the blood ves- sels that pump blood away from and to the heart wide open and lexible. What we eat can immediately change the lex- ibility and patency of our vessels. The most common culprit clogging these critical vessels is elevated levels of oxidized LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. This is the type of cholesterol that builds up on the blood vessel walls, leading to narrowing and eventual blockage of those critical “pipes.” Research clearly shows that a diet free of cholesterol and rich in foods naturally low in saturated fats can help prevent atherosclerosis and even reverse narrowed arteries over time. A whole- plant diet meets these qualiications. Pillar No. 3 is exercise, which in- creases HDL (“good”) cholesterol and our antioxidant capacity. Regular exer- cise increases heart strength — just like any other muscle. You don’t have to run a marathon to get the needed beneits of exercise. A good 30 minutes or more a day of mod- erate-intensity exercise is suficient for heart health. With moderate intensity exercise you can still carry on a conversation with a walking buddy, but you won’t be able to sing — you may just get more walking partners that way. Pillar No. 4 is avoiding excess salt. Salt has been linked to high blood pres- sure. Salt makes your body retain water, and that causes a luid overload in our vascular system. And just like an irrigation pump that is overworked wears out faster, so will the heart pump. Interestingly enough, nearly 80 per- cent of our salt comes from processed foods, not from our salt shaker. So a diet of more home-cooked foods and less of those items that come in a box, can or jar will be much healthier for your heart. Make your heart happy. Treat it with love, and it will love you back. Kenneth D. Rose, MD, is a general surgeon at Mountain View Medical Group in Enterprise. An encounter with Ali By Mike Forrester For The Chieftain Of the many aspects Muhammad Ali, a remarkable American, I loved to see his sense of humor. There was nothing very light about his public change of re- ligion or his refusal to enter the military or his high drama title ights. But his hu- mor, limericks and pranks helped ill out a whole and admirable — to me, anyway — man. When Ed Bradley of “60 Minutes” interviewed Ali at his home in 1996, the boxer and his wife tricked the journal- ist. While Muhammad sat in a deckchair with eyes closed and head down, his wife said he was pretty hard to communicate with because he slept so much. As Brad- ley took notes, Ali suddenly threw a left jab that fell short of the reporter’s chin. Laughter all around. Ali also seemed al- ways to be ready with card tricks. I had the privilege of being in on Ali humor in the late 1960s when I worked for the Associated Press in Los Angeles. My editor asked me to go to the airport to interview the heavyweight champion. He was on a plane from Las Vegas where ar- rangements for a ight had fallen through. Ali suggested we talk on the way to the main terminal where he was meeting long time photographer friend Howard Bingham. Anyway, as the three of us stood in the terminal facing each other, I heard one of them say “Man, I really Courtesy of Mike Forrester Muhammad Ali and Mike Forrester chat in Los Angeles International Airport in 1967. gotta go.” The reply was “Don’t go here, man, no, no!” And then I felt some- thing dropping on my shoe. The “drops” turned out to be tiny pebbles which were part of Ali’s entertainment arsenal. The reminiscences on his life on tele- vision have moved me to read books by Ali and about him. When he spoke about the military draft and an individ- ual’s conscience, he was eloquent and powerful. His words were homespun, but he communicated with a capital C. He did not hold back a thing. I think he was great. Mike Forrester of Pendleton is a member of the EO Media Group board. p ublished every w ednesday by : EO Media Group Periodical Postage Paid at Enterprise and additional mailing ofices Subscription rates (includes online access) Wallowa County Out-of-County 1 Year $40.00 $57.00 Subscriptions must be paid prior to delivery See the Wallowa County Chieftain on the Internet www.wallowa.com facebook.com/Wallowa | twitter.com/wcchieftain POSTMASTER — Send address changes to Wallowa County Chieftain P.O. Box 338 Enterprise, OR 97828 Contents copyright © 2015. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. Volume 134 Where to write Washington, D.C. The White House, 1600 Pennsyl- vania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20500; Phone-comments: 202-456-1111; Switchboard: 202-456-1414. U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D — 516 Hart Senate Ofice Building, Washing- ton D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-5244. E-mail: wayne_kinney@wyden.senate. gov Web site: http://wyden.senate.gov Fax: 202-228-2717. U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D — 313 Hart Senate Ofice Building, Washing- ton D.C. 20510. Phone: 202-224-3753. E-mail: senator@merkley.senate.gov. Fax: 202-228-3997. Oregon ofices include One World Trade Center, 121 S.W. Salmon St., Suite 1250, Portland, OR 97204; and 310 S.E. Second St., Suite 105, Pendleton, OR 97801. Phone: 503-326-3386; 541-278- 1129. Fax: 503-326-2990. U.S. Rep. Greg Walden, R — (Sec- ond District) 1404 Longworth Build- ing, Washington D.C. 20515. Phone: 202-225-6730. No direct e-mail be- cause of spam. Web site: www.walden. house.gov Fax: 202-225-5774. Med- ford ofice: 14 North Central, Suite 112, Medford, OR 97501. Phone: 541- 776-4646. Fax: 541-779-0204. Pending Bills: For information on bills in Congress, Phone: 202-225- 1772. Salem Gov. Kate Brown, D — 160 State Capitol, Salem 97310. Phone: 503-378- 4582. Fax: 503-378-8970. Web site: www.governor.state.or.us/governor. html.
