Ethics committee permission
We are in close and regular contact with the Norwich District Ethics Committee. At each stage, ethical permission has been sought. For instance, by February 2001, 25 separate permissions have been sought and granted by ethics committees in both Norfolk and Suffolk.

The Data Protection Act and confidentiality
The Department of Public Health and Primary Care of the University of Cambridge, based in the Institute of Public Health in Cambridge, has a licence permitting it to carry out research in collaboration with general practitioners. General practitioners have a licence to permit them to conduct research in collaboration with universities. This study is therefore covered by both these licences. All practices associated with EPIC comply with the Data Protection Act 2000. In addition, all members of staff who work with EPIC sign a confidentiality declaration, stating that they will not divulge data to any other party and that specific and identifiable information will not be used in any other context than that of health care. Data, both in the form of paper records and computer records, are kept in a coded form, which makes it impossible to identify any individual without the key. When blood samples are provided, a 'double encryption' is used to preserve anonymity. All paper records are kept in locked rooms in a locked building.