Bodies as ATMs
When there's nowhere else to turn, many look to their bodies to raise cash. James Jubinville, a sporadically employed road construction worker, husband and father of two, supplements his family's budget by donating blood to a for-profit plasma center, reports the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel. He earns $50 to $70 a week, twice weekly (the income is not taxed). Jubinville, who's been donating for a year and a half, has noticed a marked increase in donors lately.More people also are opting to be research guinea pigs, says John Cox of West Coast Clinical Trials in Anaheim, Calif., which compensates volunteers for participation in its clinical trials for pharmaceutical companies. "We're seeing a pretty good increase," Cox says. (Read more in "Selling body parts for cash.")
Compensation varies, from a couple of hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on the time and discomfort involved. Only 33% to 40% of the 2.5 million volunteers used yearly in 50,000 industry-funded research studies see money, says Ken Getz of Tufts University's Center for the Study of Drug Development. A bigger incentive is the free medical exam. "For many people who don't have health insurance, it's a great way to get it," Getz says.
Participating in medical research is risky, cautions Getz, the author of "The Gift of Participation: A Guide to Making Informed Decisions About Volunteering for a Clinical Trial." The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation, a nonprofit, has information, advocacy and support for study volunteers.
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Making babies
Strapped men are lining up to donate sperm at Xytex's two Georgia sperm bank centers. Spokesman Christopher Karow believes financial pressure is driving the 9% increase in volunteers since September. Men make $195 to $300 donating three times a week, the limit. "Students are doing it to offset the cost of their education, books and housing, where before they did it for recreation money," Karow says.Women, too, are asking their reproductive organs for some return on investment. The World Egg Bank in Phoenix fields about 450 inquiries a week, up from 250 last fall. "I believe that egg donors are not any different from the general population looking for quick and creative ways of coping with the quick turn in our economy," says Diana Thomas, the company president.
At the Colorado Center for Reproductive Medicine, egg donors get $5,000 to $5,500 per donation, the limit considered ethical by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, which suggests limiting a woman to six donations. "I've definitely heard where donors have been compensated in five figures," says Dr. Eric Surrey, the director of the center and past president of the society. He's seen a "slight" increase in inquiries. He and Thomas said that because of rigorous screening, the percentage of women who become donors is unchanged.
The real money is in gestational surrogacy, in which a woman carries a pregnancy that's unrelated to her. With applicants up 35% to 40% this year, the Center for Surrogate Parenting in Encino, Calif., and Annapolis, Md., dropped its compensation by $2,000 to make the service more accessible to couples, says Karen Synesiou, the director. Surrogates receive $20,000 to $35,000 per delivery. But it can run more: 16 years ago, one grateful couple purchased the home their surrogate had been renting, worth $140,000, and gave it to her.
Prospective surrogates are more focused on money than before, rate-shopping among agencies and trying to negotiate higher rates, she says. They're more likely to take only a six-month break between pregnancies rather than the recommended year, telling Synesiou that they want savings in case of unemployment.
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Survivalist tendencies
The impulse lives on to hunker down in the root cellar. While the S&P 500 Index was languishing, gun sales got hot, driving up share prices for Smith & Wesson (up 56%), Cabela's (35%) and Ruger (44%). Gun buffs are famous for buying or selling based on all kinds of news reports, but Top Stocks blogger Anthony Mirhaydari reports that many sales are to first-time gun owners: "People aren't looking to hunt deer; they're worried about other people."You need only glance around to see Americans launching wholeheartedly into urban food production, tilling yards into gardens and learning to can their own food and raise chickens. (Read "Can you save with a veggie garden?") Irish Eyes Garden Seeds in Ellensburg, Wash., told The Seattle Times that orders are up 20% to 30%.
Pennsylvania seed supplier W. Atlee Burpee & Co. reports seed sales up 20% over last year. Municipalities are offering publicly leased land, easements and empty rights of way for gardens. The American Community Gardening Association estimates there are tens of thousands of community gardens in the U.S. and Canada.
Published May 5, 2009
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