Rigorous accreditation schedule for acupuncture already exists

Editor—E Ernst and A White raise important points about the safe practice of acupuncture.1 Most people would agree that sticking needles into patients, however fine they are, has the potential for harm. What I find surprising, having chaired the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board since its beginnings in 1989, is that the authors seem to be calling for a solution that has been in place for nearly eight years; bylaws governing aspects of safe practice in acupuncture clinics have been in place considerably longer.2 The “system of self regulation” that the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board embodies is not “likely to gain support from … official bodies”: it has already gained it, as Ernst and White will see if they reread the BMA's 1993 report on complementary medicine3 or talk to people in the Department of Health. We set a rigorous accreditation schedule, which makes stern demands on the acupuncture training colleges and includes the issues of safety and familiarity with orthodox medicine (comprising a third of the syllabus) that the authors are rightly concerned about.

Ernst and White overlooked a development that is known to most of those working in complementary medicine. As with homoeopathy, historically one of the difficulties has been to get medical …