CORRESPONDENCE Efficacy of acupuncture in asthma To the Editor:

MARTIN et al. [1], finding little evidence for an effect of acupuncture as a treatment for asthma, but was not surprised by the result. I spent my 6-week medical student elective in 1988 at the ("Western"-style medicine) Guangzhou Institute of Respira-tory Diseases, Guangzhou, China. As part of the elective I reviewed, with the help of the clinic doctors, any treatments currently being used by 58 of 66 asthmatic patients attending the weekly respiratory clinic. While all except a first-time patient were taking Western treatments prescribed at the clinic, 50 (86%) had seen a traditional Chinese medical doctor for their asthma and 32 (55%) were currently using Chinese herbs. Lists of herbs being used were provided by 17 patients and 15 of these included ma huang (herba ephedra), the plant from which ephedrine was first isolated. However, only 1