In this issue of the Canadian Respiratory Journal, Almirall and Bégin (pages 195 to 196) make a suggestion aimed at increasing the use of spirometry by primary care physicians, as well as family and general practitioners. The idea is that spirometry should be performed not necessarily to make specific diagnoses, but to rule in or out the possibility of a number of lung diseases, most notably, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). If the patient demonstrates normal forced vital capacity and forced expiratory volume in 1 s, then he or she does not have COPD; if the results are not normal, then COPD is a possibility that can be further investigated.