HON Code of Conduct

© 2006 Werner Absenger

We adopted the Hon Code of Conduct for medical and health websites, with its eight principles listed below, to provide you, the reader, with a quality blogging experience. More information about the Hon Code and the Health on the Net Foundation available can be found at http://www.hon.ch/.

Copyright
Information gathered in the Alternative Medicine Blog shall be considered in the public domain. Public domain information may be freely distributed and copied, but it is requested that, in any subsequent use, the Alternative Medicine Blog ( http://cam.typepad.com ) be given appropriate acknowledgment. When using the Alternative Medicine Blog, you may encounter documents, information or other resources contributed or licensed by private individuals, companies, or organizations that may be protected by U.S. and foreign copyright laws. Transmission or reproduction of protected items beyond that allowed by fair use as defined in the copyright laws requires the written permission of the respective copyright owners.

1. Our Credentials
Originally I am from Austria, but have been calling the United States my home since 1988. I am presently employed as Chef de Cuisine at Cygnus Restaurant, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel. On occasion I lecture on the healing properties of food, and have been featured on television and in newspaper and magazine articles promoting the Hippocratic Theorem: "Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food."

It is this very theorem which prompted me to enroll and further my studies at Everglades University with their B.S. program in Alternative Medicine. From these ongoing studies sprung the idea of Peak Hour Associates Educational Seminars and the Alternative Medicine Blog.

There is a great need to educate the public about the current state of the health care industry, and scientifically researched complimentary and alternative approaches to disease, illness, and prevention.

I have lectured in places like:
**New York Chiropractic College, Seneca Falls, New York.
**Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council, Conference on Food and Health.
**The Culinary Vegetable Institute, Huron, Ohio to the Oncological Nurses Association.
**Peak Hour Conference, Muskegon, Michigan.

2. Mission Statement
The information contained in the Alternative Medicine Blog is intended to provide accurate and helpful health information about Alternative and Complimentary Medicine modalities to the general public, patients, healthcare providers, and care takers. The information provided on this site is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between a patient/site visitor and his/her existing physician.

3. Confidentiality
Confidentiality of data relating to individual patients and visitors to a medical/health Web site, including their identity, is respected by the Alternative Medicine Blog. The web site owners of the Alternative Medicine Blog undertake to honor or exceed the legal requirements of medical/health information privacy that apply in the country and state where the blog is located.

Comment Section of Blog Posts

The Alternative Medicine Blog requires users to fill in a valid e-mail address and a verification code in the CAPTCHA, before a comment will be posted. The name required to leave a post does not have to be the users real name.

Names, addresses, and all other personal information supplied by participants in the Alternative Medicine Blog are kept strictly confidential. The Alternative Medicine Blog does not supply this information to other parties. Users of the Alternative Medicine Blog may, however, receive communications, by e-mail or post, from The Alternative Medicine Blog from time to time. To the extent such information is submitted directly to the Alternative Medicine Blog, we will endeavor to keep names, addresses, and all other personal information supplied by participants of the Alternative Medicine Blog strictly confidential. Please keep in mind, however, that whenever you voluntarily disclose personal information online, for example on message boards, through e-mail, or in comment posts, that information can be collected and used by others.

The Alternative Medicine Blog also contains links to other Internet sites. The Alternative Medicine Blog does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in the Internet sites to which it provides links, nor is the organization responsible for the information they contain. The content of these linked sites are the sole responsibility of such sites and their contributing authors. The Alternative Medicine Blog does not intend links to other sites to be referrals or endorsements of the linked entities, but rather provides such links for convenience only. 

The Alternative Medicine Blog reserves the right to block individual access to this Web site for any reason it deems necessary.

4. Referenced and Dated Information
The Alternative Medicine Blog, as an educational tool, strives to educate about the current state of the health care industry, and scientifically researched modalities of complimentary and alternative approaches to disease, illness, and prevention. In order for this information to be meaningful, we will use humanitarian or scientific style source notations to source data. All posts on the Alternative Medicine Blog are archived by date published.

5. Justification of Claims
Any claims relating to the benefits/performance of a specific treatment, commercial product or service will be supported by appropriate, balanced evidence in a manner as outlined in the "Referenced and Dated Information" above. The Alternative Medicine Blog does not endorse or recommend any commercial products, processes, or services without proper documentation of their effectiveness. The views and opinions of authors expressed on the Alternative Medicine Blog may not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

6. Transparency of Authorship
The Alternative Medicine Blog will seek to organize information in the clearest possible manner. The contact address for bloggers seeking further information or support is displayed in the about page ( http://cam.typepad.com/about.html ).

7. Transparency of sponsorship
This website is funded by the contributions of third party advertising, and myself.

8. Advertising policy
For additional funding, to provide you, the reader, with FREE, cutting edge health information, we use third party advertising from several providers of relevant content ads on the Alternative Medicine Blog's content pages. We believe, since the ads are directly related to what you, the reader is looking for on the Alternative Medicine Blog, or matched to the characteristics and interests of the typical reader our content attracts, we are able to provide an enhanced online experience.

However, since contextual advertising on the Alternative Medicine Blog is provided by third parties based on automatic inclusion, the Alternative Medicine Blog's publisher and its authors do not accept responsibility for the accuracy of statements made by these contributors, nor does the Alternative Medicine Blog accept responsibility for any errors or omissions. The products or ideas mentioned are not a warranty, endorsement or approval of ideas or products or their safety. The Alternative Medicine Blog disclaims responsibility or liability, directly or indirectly for any injury to persons resulting for the use or misuse from any ideas or products referred to or implied by any material presented.