[uggabugga]

seeing this headline at first, i thought they were talking about grave-robbing..

As Michigan's economy continues to suffer, people are offering themselves up as medical guinea pigs for a quick buck to make ends meet. Some are selling plasma, others their hair for hundreds on the Internet, while others take the more extreme road by wanting to sell their eggs or participate in medical studies in exchange for payment and free medical exams.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...make-ends-meet

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

seeing this headline at first, i thought they were talking about grave-robbing..



http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...make-ends-meet

These words come to mind: scary and desperate.

[magellan]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

seeing this headline at first, i thought they were talking about grave-robbing..



http://www.detnews.com/article/20090...make-ends-meet

This is not new. Upjohn (now Pfizer) in Kalamazoo does studies on volunteer WMU students and Kzoo locals. You can make $1200 in one weekend. Or at least they did back in the late 80's, early 90's. Selling plasma has been around for as long as I can remember.

[uggabugga]

Originally Posted by magellan

This is not new. Upjohn (now Pfizer) in Kalamazoo does studies on volunteer WMU students and Kzoo locals. You can make $1200 in one weekend. Or at least they did back in the late 80's, early 90's. Selling plasma has been around for as long as I can remember.

no claims were made as for newness; i sold plasma for beer money in the 80s..

the newsworthiness, OTOH, derives from the increasing number of people involved in these activities:

The site has seen more than a 40 percent increase in the past six months in the number of people -- more than 100 of whom are from Metro Detroit like Fetzner -- wanting to sell their untreated locks.

Meanwhile, donations of plasma -- the clear liquid portion of the blood used to treat conditions such as trauma and burns -- have also climbed from 10 million nationwide in 2005 to more than 17.5 million last year

The number of people registering for University of Michigan Health System's 400 or so clinical studies has jumped 50 percent

etc.

[zthatzmanz28]

Thats about all I gotta say about that...

[magellan]

Originally Posted by uggabugga

no claims were made as for newness; i sold plasma for beer money in the 80s..

the newsworthiness, OTOH, derives from the increasing number of people involved in these activities:

etc.

Sorry, the passage you quoted in your first post made it sound like these things have just come up because of Michigan's economy. I have to admit I didn't click the article link.