Acupuncture was brought with Chinese immigrants into the West to work on railroads and in the fields. The increase of using acupuncture in the United States began with a State visit to China by Richard Nixon in the 1970's. During this visit, a member of the U.S. delegation was given an emergency appendectomy. The only anesthesia that was used was acupuncture. The President was duly impressed and when he returned to the US, he called for further study of the procedure. In 1994, the Washington Post was reporting that almost 15 million Americans had tried acupuncture, almost 6% of the total population. In 1995, The United States Federal Drug Administration classified acupuncture needles as medical instruments. In 1997 when the National Institute of Health issued a report titled, "Acupuncture: The NIH Consensus Statement." This report stated that acupuncture was indeed very useful in the treatment of certain conditions. It also stated that the side effects of acupuncture were less adverse than those resulting from either surgery or drugs. The report further encouraged Insurance Companies to give full coverage to acupuncture treatments for certain conditions. This was a major endorsement of the procedure. Today, acupuncture is becoming more and more accepted as an alternative treatment and is gaining acceptance by the Western Medical Community. Some Medical schools including UCLA have begun to offer acupuncture as part of the curriculum. (Source: Alien Sheng, American Chronicle, Apr 15, 2007).