Please read these Terms of Use carefully and completely, as your continued use of the Mercola.com Web site (the “Site”) confirms your unconditional acceptance of, and is subject to, the following terms and conditions.  If you do not accept these terms and conditions, do not use the site.  Mercola.com may, in its sole discretion, revise these Terms of Use at any time; therefore, you should visit this page periodically to review these Terms of Use.  You shall be responsible for reviewing and becoming familiar with any such revisions.  Use of the Site by you following such any revision constitutes your acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Terms of Use as revised

To become a Member of Mercola.com's on-line community, You recognize that you are required to provide your e-mail address and to choose a screen name.You recognize that your chosen screen name will appear in connection with any communications you post on Mercola.com.
You shall provide Mercola.com with accurate, complete, and updated registration information. Failure to do so shall constitute a breach of the Terms of Use, which may result in immediate termination of your Mercola.com account.

You may not:

(i) select or use as a Mercola.com User ID a name of another person with the intent to impersonate that person;

(ii) use as a Mercola.com User ID a name subject to any rights of a person other than you without appropriate authorization; or

(iii) use as a Mercola.com User ID a name that is otherwise offensive, vulgar or obscene.

Mercola.com reserves the right to refuse registration of, or cancel, a Mercola.com User ID in its discretion. You shall be responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Mercola.com password.

Unless you voluntarily and affirmatively choose to list your e-mail address in your membership profile, biography, posting or other location on Mercola.com,you understand that your actual e-mail address is not public, shared in anyway, or displayed on Mercola.com.You also understand and agree that Mercola.com in no way encourages members to disclose private information, including their e-mail addresses, on the publicly accessible portions of Mercola.com.

You understand that you are not required to post any personal information to become a member. However, if you voluntarily choose to include personal information in your member profile, biography or other postings on Mercola.com, you may do so. You understand and agree that Mercola.com in no way encourages members to disclose private information, including your e-mail addresses, on the publicly accessible portions of Mercola.com.

You understand and agree that Mercola.com and its directors, officers, employees and agents are not liable for the disclosure of any personal information which you voluntarily include in your profile, biography and or posts. You recognize that you have no legitimate expectation of privacy in any information which you voluntarily disclose on Mercola.com, and hereby waive any constitutional, statutory or common law right to privacy which you might otherwise claim in such information.

You understand and agree that Mercola.com may collect and utilize any personal information which you voluntarily provide, and may combine the personal information collected from you with information from others to provide a better user experience.

Responsibility for Reviewing Content You are also responsible for the interpretation of the content that is posted on Mercola.com. You must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with the use of any content, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such Content.

Responsibility for Posting Content All information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages, or any other materials whatsoever (collectively, "Content"), whether publicly posted or privately transmitted, is the sole responsibility of the person from whom such Content originated. This means that you, and not Mercola.com, are entirely responsible for all content that you upload, posts, emails or otherwise transmits via Mercola.com.

Your contributions to content on Mercola.com should:

1. Increase the knowledge of other readers

2. Help create dialogue and discussion around topics

3. Provoke re-thinking of many conventionally held beliefs (i.e. mercury vaccines are good for kids)

As a condition of use, you promise to use the Site only for lawful purposes and in compliance with these Terms of Use. You understand and agree that Mercola.com is not under any obligation to control, monitor or verify the statements made by members of Mercola.com’s on-line community. If Mercola.com discovers that you are violating these Terms of Use or otherwise making unacceptable use of Mercola.com, however, Mercola.com may terminate your account.

Some examples of such unacceptable uses are

1) Abuse, harass, humiliate, deceive, threaten, impersonate, intimidate or engage in any other abusive behaviors with those who comment on Mercola.com.

2) Contribute any content that is infringing, libelous, defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party;

3) Post or transmit, or cause to be posted or transmitted, any communication or solicitation designed or intended to obtain password, account, or private information from any Mercola.com user;

4) Create or submit unwanted email ("Spam") to any other Mercola.com users or any URL;

5) Violate any laws in your jurisdiction (including but not limited to copyright laws);

6) Submit stories or comments linking to affiliate programs, multi-level marketing schemes, or off-topic content or any other system that will result in your personal financial or commercial gain.

7) Use for illegal or unauthorized purpose. If you are an international user, you agree to comply with all local laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content

8) With the exception of accessing RSS feeds, you will not use any robot, spider, scraper or other automated means to access the Site for any purpose without our express written permission. Additionally, you agree that you will not:

(i) take any action that imposes, or may impose in our sole discretion an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure;

(ii) interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the Site or any activities conducted on the Site; or

(iii) bypass any measures we may use to prevent or restrict access to the Site;

9) Create separate user accounts with the intention of artificially inflating your Mercola.com count, comments, or any other Mercola.com service.

10) Post personal communications from anyone without their consent

Mercola.com may remove any Content and Mercola.com accounts at any time for any reason (including, but not limited to, upon receipt of claims or allegations from third parties or authorities relating to such Content), or for no reason at all. To report Terms of Use abuse, please email: abuse@Mercola.com.

You understand and agree that it is impossible for Mercola.com to guarantee complete security. You understand and agree that Mercola.com accepts no responsibility for any consequences of unauthorized entry, even if such entry could have been prevented by procedures known to Mercola.com, but not adopted, and you hereby waive any claim against Mercola.com and/or its directors, officers, employees or agents, based upon any unauthorized acts by third parties.

You acknowledge that Mercola.com may or may not pre-screen Content posted by users to our Web Site (“User Postings”), but that Mercola.com and its designees shall have the right (but not the obligation) in their sole discretion to pre-screen, refuse, or remove any User Postings.  Without limiting the foregoing, Mercola.com and its designees shall have the right to remove any User Postings that violates these Terms of Use or is, in Mercola.com’s sole direction, otherwise objectionable. You agree that you must evaluate, and bear all risks associated with, the use of any User Postings, including any reliance on the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of such User Postings.  With respect to User Postings you yourself submit or make available for inclusion on Mercola.com, you grant Mercola.com a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, fully-sublicensable, royalty-free and non-exclusive license(s), to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform and publicly display such User Postings (in whole or in part), and on Mercola.com, and to incorporate such User Postings into other works in any format or medium now known or later developed.

As a user of the Site, you are responsible for your own communications and are responsible for any consequences resulting from these communications. Therefore, do not do any of the following things: transmit to us or post to the Site material that is copyrighted, unless you are the copyright owner or have the permission of the copyright owner to send it; send material that reveals trade secrets, unless you own them or have the permission of the owner; transmit to us or post to the Site material that infringes on any other intellectual property rights of others or on the privacy or publicity rights of others; transmit to us or post to the Site material that is obscene, defamatory, threatening, harassing, abusive, hateful, or embarrassing to another user or any other person or entity; send sexually-explicit images; transmit to us or post to the Site advertisements or solicitations of business; transmit to us or post to the Site chain letters or pyramid schemes; or impersonate another person. Mercola.com reserves the right to expel users and prevent their further access to this Web Site for violating these terms or the law.

You understand and agree that Mercola.com may collect and utilize any personal information which you voluntarily provide, and may combine the personal information collected from you with information from others to provide a better user experience.You further understand and agree that Mercola.com may summarize and/or reprint any information or comments which you voluntarily post on the website as a part of newsletters and other publications.

Use of Site Material

This website and its contents, such as text, graphics, images and other content (the "Site Material") are protected by copyright under both United States and foreign laws. Copyright 2009 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved. Individual articles on the Site may be copied in full, without specific permission, for not-for-profit purposes, provided that your copy of the article includes full copyright and contact information, along with the promotional graphic and link located on this page: http://www.mercola.com/Citations/index.htm. If possible, I would also appreciate an endorsement and encouragement to subscribe to the newsletter. Any other use of Site Material violates copyright, trademark, and other laws. Absent the express written permission of Dr. Mercola, You may not sell or modify our Site Material or reproduce, display, distribute, or otherwise use the Site Material in any way for commercial purpose. Termination of your user account for any reason, including but not limited to your violation of any of these Terms of Use, results in the immediate revocation of your license to use the Site Material and obligates You to immediately destroy any copies of the Site Material in your possession.

Notice for Claims of Intellectual Property Violations and Agent for Notice

Mercola.com respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. Mercola.com abides by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) by responding to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the DMCA and other applicable laws.  In appropriate circumstances and at Mercola.com’s sole discretion, that response may include removing, disabling and/or terminating access to material residing on the Site that is claimed to be infringing, in which case we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the person who submitted the affected material so that they may make a counter notification, also in accordance with the DMCA.

Mercola.com has no responsibility for content on other web sites that you may find or access when using Mercola.com’s products or services. Material available on or through other web sites may be protected by copyright and the intellectual property laws of the United States and/or other countries. The terms of use of those web sites, and not the Mercola.com Term of Use, govern your use of that material.

If you believe that your work has been copied in the Site in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or that your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Mercola.com's Copyright Agent with the following information:

1. Reasonably sufficient details to enable us to identify the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
2. A description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site, with enough detail that we may find it on the Site;
3. Your contact information so that we can contact you (including your name, address, telephone number, and email address);
4. A statement that you have a good faith belief that the use of the material identified in (2) is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law;
5. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the exclusive right that is alleged to be infringed; and
6. The electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest.

Counter-Notification

If material that you have posted to the Site has been taken down in response to a claim of copyright or other intellectual property infringement, you may send Mercola.com’s Copyright Agent a counter-notification containing the following details:

1. Reasonably sufficient details to enable us to identify the material that has been removed to which access has been disabled, together with the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disable;
2. A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material in question;
3. Your contact information so that we can contact you (including your name, address, telephone number, and email address);
4. A statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for judicial district in which your address is located or, if your address is outside of the USA, in any judicial district in which Mercola.com may be found, and that you will accept service of process from the person who submitted a notice in compliance with the section (c)(1)(C) of the DMCA, as generally described above; and
5. Your physical or electronic signature.

Mercola.com's Copyright Agent can be reached as follows:

By mail
Copyright Agent
Mercola.com, LLC
3200 W. Higgins Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60169

By phone
Tele: 847-252-4355 Ext 3103

By fax
847-985-0947

By email
copyright@mercola.com
Attachments cannot be accepted. Accordingly, any notification of infringement or counter-notification submitted electronically with an attachment will not be received or processed.
Before serving either a Notice of Infringing Material or Counter-Notification, you may wish to contact a lawyer to better understand your rights and obligations under the DMCA and other applicable laws. These notice requirements are intended to comply with Mercola.com’s rights and obligations under the DMCA and, in particular, section 512(c), and do not constitute or act as a substitute for legal advice.

Mercola.com's current privacy policy is available at Mercola.com ("Privacy Policy").

Users may provide links to other web sites or resources. Because Mercola.com has no control over such sites and resources, you acknowledge and agree that Mercola.com is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any content, advertising, products or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You agree not to knowingly link to any web site, web page or resource that contains defamatory, obscene, pornographic, abusive, or offensive material, or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party.

You further acknowledge and agree that Mercola.com shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such content, goods or services available on or through any such site.

Although Mercola.com desires accuracy in all elements of the Site Material, there may be inaccuracies or typographical errors. Mercola.com makes no express or implied representation about the accuracy, reliability, completeness or timeliness of the Site Material or about the results that may be obtained from use of the Site. You use the Site and the Site Material at your own risk.

THE WEB SITE AND THE MATERIAL ARE PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, MERCOLA.COM DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES RIGHTS AND THE WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE. ALTHOUGH AMF DESIRES TO PROVIDE COMPLETE AND ACCURATE INFORMATION AND MATERIALS ON ITS WEB SITE, AMF MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ABOUT THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS OR TIMELINESS OF THE INFORMATION, MATERIAL, SERVICES, SOFTWARE, TEXT, GRAPHICS AND LINKS FOUND AT THE WEB SITE. 

IN NO EVENT SHALL MERCOLA.COM OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE UNDER CONTRACT, TORT, STRICT LIABILITY, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER LEGAL THEORY: (A) WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, THE SERVICE OR ANY CONTENT FOR ANY LOST PROFITS OR SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OF ANY KIND WHATSOEVER, SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES (HOWEVER ARISING), OR (B) FOR ANY DIRECT DAMAGES IN EXCESS OF (IN THE AGGREGATE) $100. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATIONS AND EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

No agency, partnership, joint venture, or employment is created as a result of the Terms of Use and you do not have any authority of any kind to bind Mercola.com in any respect whatsoever. The failure of either party to exercise in any respect any right provided for herein shall not be deemed a waiver of any further rights hereunder.

Mercola.com shall not be liable for any failure to perform its obligations hereunder where such failure results from any cause beyond Mercola.com's reasonable control, including, without limitation,

. mechanical,
. electronic or
. communications failure or
. degradation (including "line-noise" interference).

If any provision of the Terms of Use is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision shall be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the Terms of Use shall otherwise remain in full force and effect and enforceable.

The Terms of Use is not assignable, transferable or sublicensable by you except with Mercola.com's prior written consent.

Mercola.com may transfer, assign or delegate the Terms of Use and its rights and obligations without consent. The Terms of Use shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Illinois, as if made within Illinois between two residents thereof, and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and any other limitations on how they will address legal claims.