As a practicing medical acupuncturist, I would make the following comments on the recent article in the ARCHIVES by White et al.1
First, why did the treatment consist of the electroacupuncture of a single ear point ("lung") for 20 minutes? Is this a common treatment protocol for smoking cessation in the United Kingdom? It was not made clear in the article. It is my understanding that the most widely used treatment protocol for substance abuse in the United States involves needling 5 points (shen men, "sympathetic," "kidney," "liver," and "lung") on each ear for 30 minutes to 1 hour.2 Furthermore, many American acupuncturists, myself included, do not restrict themselves to ear points when trying to help with smoking cessation, but use certain body points as well.