Disclaimer of Endorsement and Liability
Privacy and Security Policy
Accessibility Policy
Web Site Linking Policy
Copyright and Registered Trademarks
Freedom of Information Act
Disclaimer of Endorsement and Liability
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) does not endorse or recommend any commercial
products, processes, or services. Therefore, mention of commercial products,
processes, or services on NCI's Web site, www.cancer.gov, cannot be construed as
an endorsement or recommendation.
The NCI Web site provides links to other Internet sites for
informational purposes and the
convenience of its users. When users select a link to an external Web site,
they are leaving the NCI Web site and are subject to the privacy and
security policies of the owners/sponsors of the external site.
NCI does not endorse organizations that sponsor linked, external Web sites. In
addition, NCI does not endorse products or services that such organizations may
offer. Furthermore, NCI does not control or guarantee the currency, accuracy,
relevance, or completeness of information found on linked, external Web sites.
NCI cannot authorize the use of copyrighted materials published on linked,
external Web sites. Users must request authorization from the sponsors of those
Web sites.
NCI is not responsible for transmissions users may receive from linked, external
Web sites.
NCI does not guarantee that linked, external Web sites comply with Section 508
(Accessibility Requirements) of the Rehabilitation Act.
Press releases or other materials meant for public use will not be posted on
the NCI Web site unless developed by or for NCI or the National Institutes of Health.
In general, it is not NCI's intention to provide specific medical advice to
users of its Web site, but rather to provide users with information
to help them better understand their health, diagnosed conditions, and the
current range of approaches related to cancer treatment, prevention, screening, and
supportive care. NCI urges users to consult with a qualified physician for
diagnosis and for answers to their personal medical questions.
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Privacy and Security Policy
Your Visit to the NCI Web Site is Private and Secure
When you visit the NCI Cancer.gov Web site, we do not collect any personally identifiable information about you, unless you choose to explicitly provide it to us. We do, however, collect some data about your visit to our Web site to help us better understand public use of the site and to make it more useful to visitors. This page describes the information that is automatically collected and stored.
What Information Is Automatically Collected and Stored?
When you browse through any Web site, certain information about your visit can be collected. We automatically collect and temporarily store the following information about your visit:
- Domain name you use to access the Internet (such as www.verizon.net, www.harvard.edu, www.TRICARE.mil, or www.fda.gov)
- Date and time of your visit
- Pages you visited
- Address of the Web site that connected you to the NCI Cancer.gov site (such as google.com or bing.com)
We use this information to measure the number of visitors to our site and its various sections and to help us make our site more useful to visitors. Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, no additional information will be collected about you.
What about Temporary "Session Cookies?"
When you visit any Web site, its server generates a piece of information known as a "cookie" and places it on your computer. The cookie allows the server to "remember" specific information about your visit while you are connected.
The cookie makes it easier for you to use the dynamic features of Web pages. Requests to send cookies from NCI Cancer.gov Web pages are designed to collect information about your browser "session" only; they do not collect personal information about you.
The "session" cookie is not permanently stored on your computer. The cookie and the information about your visit are automatically destroyed shortly after you close your browser to end the session.
How Are "Persistent Cookies" Used?
NCI is running the American Customer Satisfaction Survey (ACSI) on Cancer.gov, which uses "persistent" or "blocking" cookies. Participation in the survey is voluntary. Not participating in the survey does not affect your ability to access information.
The ACSI survey is delivered randomly to visitors as a pop-up questionnaire. Answers to the survey helps NCI improve Cancer.gov to make it easier to use and more responsive to the needs of our visitors.
Persistent cookies will:
- Block the repeated delivery of the survey either in the current visit or in any subsequent visit
- Record only that the visitor had the opportunity to answer the survey questions
- Expire 30-90 days after being set
- Reduce the burden on visitors to the site by avoiding repeated delivery of the pop-up survey
Persistent cookies will not:
- Collect any information about the visitors
- Track the Web surfing activities of visitors
- Indicate whether a visitor answered any questions
- Link a particular visitor to any response or set of responses.
If you are concerned about the potential use of information gathered from your computer by cookies, you can set your browser to prompt you before it accepts a cookie. Most Internet browsers have settings that let you identify and/or reject cookies. To protect your privacy, be sure to close your browser completely after you have finished conducting business with any Web site that uses cookies.
How Is Personal Information Protected?
You do not have to give us personal information to visit the NCI Cancer.gov Web site.
If you choose to provide us with additional information about yourself through an e-mail message, form, survey, etc., we maintain the information only as long as needed to respond to your question or to fulfill the stated purpose of the communication.
Disclosure
NCI does not disclose, give, sell, or transfer any personal information about our visitors, unless required for law enforcement or by statute.
Site Security
Cancer.gov is maintained by the U.S. Government. It is protected by various provisions of Title 18, U.S. Code. Violations of Title 18 are subject to criminal prosecution in federal court.
For site security purposes and to ensure that this service remains available to all users, we use software programs to monitor traffic to identify unauthorized attempts to upload or change information or otherwise cause damage. In the event of authorized law enforcement investigations, and pursuant to any required legal process, information from these sources may be used to help identify an individual.
Related Policies
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Accessibility Policy
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) is committed to providing access to all
individuals--disabled or not--who are seeking information on its Web site. To
provide this information, the NCI Web site has been designed to comply with
Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act (as amended).
Section 508 requires that all individuals with disabilities (whether they are
federal government employees or members of the general public) have access to
and use of information and data comparable to that provided to individuals
without disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed.
Any individual using assistive technology (such as a screen reader, Braille
reader, etc.) who experiences difficulty in accessing information on
www.cancer.gov, should send an e-mail to
Contact Us (cancergovstaff@mail.nih.gov) or
call NCI's Office of Communications at 301-496-9096
for assistance. The nature of the accessibility problem and contact information
should be included in any e-mail or telephone message. If the accessibility
problem involves a particular Web page, including the URL (Web address) of the
page would be helpful. A member of the NCI Web site staff will contact
individuals with accessibility problems as soon as possible to assist them and
to provide them the information sought.
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Web Site Linking Policy
We encourage individuals and organizations to link to the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Web site (http://www.cancer.gov) and to the Spanish language site, Cancer.gov en español (http://www.cancer.gov/espanol). The source can be cited as follows:
The Web site of the National Cancer Institute (http://www.cancer.gov)
The NCI Web site is periodically revised, and content may be deleted or moved. We try to ensure that existing links will redirect to the new page(s).
Links from NCI to Other Web Sites
The NCI Web site includes links to external Web sites. These links are for your convenience and to supplement Cancer.gov content. In general, NCI links to:
- Other federal agencies.
- NCI partners (such as a cancer center or clinical trial cooperative group).
- Organizations with which we have a formal relationship (such as a Memorandum of Understanding, license, or development agreement).
Selection of external links is at NCI discretion and does not imply endorsement of external organizations, their products and services. NCI does not guarantee the currency, accuracy, relevance, or completeness of information found on linked, external Web sites.
We reserve the right to remove links to external Web sites that no longer meet our content needs.
Periodic Link Review
NCI periodically reviews internal and external links to ensure that they are still functional and valuable, but you may occasionally encounter a broken link. If so, please send a message to cancergovstaff@mail.nih.gov or use our e-mail form.
Related Policies
For more information, please see the following NCI policies:
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Copyright and Registered Trademarks
You May Reuse Information from the National Cancer Institute Web Site
Most of the information on the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Web site, Cancer.gov, is in the public domain and is not subject to copyright restrictions. No special permission is required to use or reproduce public domain material. NCI's public domain information includes health professional and patient information in NCI's Physician Data Query (PDQ®) cancer information database and patient education brochures, booklets, and fact sheets.
However, any reproduced material should acknowledge NCI as the originator and the NCI Web site, www.cancer.gov, as the source. The source can be cited as:
The Web site of the National Cancer Institute (http://www.cancer.gov)
You Do Not Need Permission to:
- Use text from NCI information products in your own materials.
- However, you cannot use the registered trademark logos for NCI, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), or PDQ in your materials because NCI has not reviewed or approved your product.
- Translate text from NCI products into other languages.
- However, you cannot use the NCI, NIH, DHHS, or PDQ logos on your translations because NCI has not reviewed or approved your translations.
- Link to NCI Websites.
Please note that many of our online health publications are continually updated as we learn more about a specific disease or condition. Occasionally, sites that copy and repost NCI materials fail to check for updates, which can result in out-of-date information being offered to their users. For that reason, we urge you to link to NCI documents rather than reposting them. If you do repost, please visit the NCI Web site periodically to check for document revisions.
You Do Need Permission to Use Registered Trademarks and Copyrighted Material:
- NCI's logo is trademarked and cannot be used without consent.
- Questions regarding use of the NCI logo should be directed to the NCI Office of Communications Services at cancergovstaff@mail.nih.gov.
- PDQ is a registered trademark and its use requires a licensing agreement with NCI.
- Artwork, graphics, and text developed for NCI by private-sector designers, photographers, and writers under contract to the federal government is owned by the originators. Generally, copyrighted materials will include a copyright statement.
- Permissions, including credit line and/or fees for use of privately owned material, must be negotiated directly with the private-sector contractor, independent of the government.
- To inquire about the ownership of NCI materials or to obtain contractor contact information, send e-mail to the NCI Office of Communications Services at cancergovstaff@mail.nih.gov or write to:
Office of Communications Services
Office of Communications and Education
National Cancer Institute
Room 3066
6116 Executive Boulevard
Rockville, MD 20852
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Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552 provides individuals with a
right to access information in the possession of the U.S. federal government.
The government, however, may withhold information covered by 9 exemptions and 3
exclusions contained in the Act.
Before submitting a request under FOIA, individuals should try to determine
whether the information sought is already in the public domain and whether it
is or may be held by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). NCI has a wealth of
information available in both published and electronic formats. A search of
NCI's Web Site, www.cancer.gov, can be helpful in locating information and
lists of available publications.
If data produced under an NCI grant are sought, the data will be released under
FOIA only if specific requirements are met.
It is important to note that FOIA allows agencies to recover part of the
costs associated with responding to requests.
Department of Health and Human Services regulations
describe specific rules for fees, requesting a fee waiver,
and reducing fees.
Questions about FOIA and requests for information held by NCI can be directed
either to the
NCI FOIA Office or to the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) FOIA Office.
The NCI FOIA Office is located at:
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Building 31, Room 10A48
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: 301-496-2999
Fax number: 301-435-2931
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The NIH FOIA Office is located at:
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Building 31, Room 5B35
31 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD 20892
Telephone: 301-496-5633
Fax number: 301-402-4541
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