When you visit our Web site, we do not obtain information that will allow us to identify you personally unless you choose to provide such information to us.

To help us improve the site, we collect statistics about its usage. None of this information identifies individual users or the pages they visit.

We also collect search terms to learn what topics are of most interest to visitors who use our Web search tool. These search terms are not associated with individual users.

Unless it is specifically stated otherwise, we will not collect any additional information about you.

When inquiries are e-mailed to us, we store the question and the e-mail address so we can respond electronically. We do not store or use this information for any other purpose. Unless required by law, we do not publicly identify those who send questions or comments to our Web site.

E-mail sent to NIGMS may be seen by a number of people who are responsible for answering questions. If the information specialist who answers the mail does not know the answer to your question, your query may be forwarded to another NIH employee who is more knowledgeable in that area. In addition, you should be aware that e-mail is not necessarily secure against interception. If your communication contains sensitive or personal information, you may want to send it by postal mail or contact us by telephone.

Our Web site has links to other federal agencies, as well as links to private organizations. Once you link to another site, you are subject to the privacy policy of the new site.

About "Cookies"

While visiting sites within the nigms.nih.gov domain, you may occasionally encounter a Web page that employs “cookies.” A cookie is a small file that a Web site transfers to your computer's hard disk allowing our server to "remember" specific information about your session while you are connected.

Requests to send cookies from NIGMS Web pages are not designed to collect information about you, but only about your browser "session." The cookie makes it easier for you to use the dynamic features of these Web pages. The cookie and the information about your session will be destroyed automatically shortly after you close your browser--it is not permanently stored on your computer. Unless an NIGMS web page specifically notifies you otherwise, we will not collect and maintain personal information about you.

To protect your privacy, be sure to close your browser completely after you have finished conducting business with a Web site that uses cookies. 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.

Questions about National Institutes of Health (NIH) privacy policies should be sent to the NIH Privacy Act Officer.