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A gigantic health survey called EPIC studying the dietry habits, nutrition, exposure to toxins, hereditary and environmentle factors, life style etc of more than 250000 people in EEC counties is under way.Although the survey is cancer orientated(EPIC stands for 'The European Prospective Investigation of Cancer and Nutrition')there are many other interested bodies such as the British Heart Foundation which are involved in the funding. In the UK the test area for the survey is the County of Norfolk where I happen to live and a few weeks ago I was sent a very detailed questioneer which I was invited to complete which I did conscientiously even though it took me nearly an hour and there was no prize draw for a pacemaker, wheel chair, dentures or hearing aid, let alone a weeks holiday for two in the Parkinson village.Having in the past read quite a lot on this list concerning the causes of Parkinsons, it became obvious to me that a lot of the questions I had answered were exactly those which would be put by a researcher studying the causes of Parkinsons and particularly those relating to exposure to environmental toxins.I wondered whether the findings of the survey would be availalble for Parkinson researchers The survey in England is being run by a group at Cambridge University and so I decided to ring the Research Co-ordinator and posed this question to her.She was extremely positive and helpful.No- Parkinsons had not been given any special consideredation in the survey but what a good idea and I was very gratified to be informed about a follow up questioneer which was in the process of being designed and that following my instigation some appropriate questions solely relating to Parkinsons would be included.These are; Have you ever been diagnosed as having Parkinsons disease? In NO have you ever noticed tremor or shakiness in your hands? If Yes is it present at rest? Have you had any difficulty in starting to walk or get out of a chair? If yes is this due to joint problems such as arthritis? Has your walking become slower? Has your hand writing changed in the past few years? If yes has it got smaller? Within the limits of a not too complicated questioneer these questions are inevitably a little simplistic but would help to identify pre-diagnosis people.But again thanks to this list I was also aware that loss of sense of smell was in many cases an indicator and of particular interest as it often occurs many years before other syptoms appear.( I lost my own sense of smell about eight years before other sypmtoms occured.)Kathie Tollifsom recently posted a messager on this subject saying that loss of sense of smell is so common in early PD that it is component of Dr Erwin Montgomery's " early detection" screening at U 0f A hospital.I therefore1 suggested to the Research Co-ordinator that it might be of interest to include a question on loss of sense of smell.Is anybody aware of any research literature on this subject? Any investigation and analysis of the results from the PD aspect would need additional funding.Possibly some of the national Parkinson Institutions might be interested in helping in this direction and immediately the UK Parkinson Disease Society springs to mind.But it does seem to me that the opportunity to participate in a large health survey of this kind to further investigate causes for PD is one not to be missed. 'Praestat cautela quam medela'. David Langridge.