1. Management of asthma: a consensus statement;Warner, J.O.; Gotz, M.; Landau, L.I.;Arch Dis Child,1989
2. We believe it goes without saying that any publication in any medical journal does not constitute a formal endorsement of the views expressed in the articles by the journal or the British Paediatric Association. When a large group of well qualified experts actually agree on protocols for the management of a chronic condition, however, this must be considered a reasonably authoritative view. The question of whether the recommendations would ultimately be accepted as the gold standard, either medically or legally, is certainly not in the hands of the participants of the meeting or indeed of the journal that published the article. This will be left entirely to the medical profession at large
3. the deliberations of the Consensus have now been reviewed in a large number of meetings in many countries and have been widely accepted and endorsed. Indeed a precis of the document has been translated into Hungarian and Japanese for distribution to paediatricians. The most recent conference of the European Society of Pneumonology (Freiburg 1989) also had the opportunity to discuss the document at length and considered it to be a significant and important development;However
4. whether organised independantly or as part of a national or international society, are heavily sponsored by drug companies. The Consensus Meeting was also supported by a drug company. However it had absolutely no influence whatsoever over the deliberations and was indeed excluded from participation. Furthermore I would suggest that it is invidious of Professor Godfrey to suggest that the individuals who participated in the construction of this consensus were in any way swayed by commercial pressures or biases;Virtually all meetings
5. We are, of course, very pleased that Professor Godfrey is in agreement with most of what is written and indeed it certainly does reflect his multitude of contributions to the medical literature on the management of childhood asthma. It is imperative that we should have a consensus on the management of this condition, which at present is grossly underdiagnosed and undertreated. In 1983 a publication appeared in the British Medical Journal, which investigated the specialist approach to childhood asthma. Forty seven specialists answered a questionnaire on the management of childhood asthma. There were considerable differences in opinion for more than half the questions. The authors of this study suggested that 'these results have disturbing implications