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To the Editor.—The stimulating debate on the most appropriate name for our specialty, as evidenced in the September Archives (1980;106:521), has not only taken place in North America. For many years since the formation of the European Economic Community (EEC), or Common Market, medical specialists have endeavored to define their sphere of activity accurately to colleagues in the nine member countries.
At first sight, the problems seemed even more fundamental than those occurring in the United States. In Britain and Ireland, the designation "ear, nose, and throat (ENT) surgeons" clearly delineated primary areas and included the operative part of the work. In France, however, for example, the term "otorhino-laryngologiste" did not even convey to both patients and colleagues that the specialty had a surgical aspect. The accuracy of even "ENT" in the British Isles can be questioned, as surgery of the external part of the nose, particularly relating to