Blood Money
Some things you can buy with your hard-earned $60 (if you haven’t already spent it on alcohol).
Kira Fahmy
From a $1 Amazon gift card to $100 in hard cash, Northwestern research studies offer students quick ways to exploit their bodies for money. The most infamous and wide-reaching is “the mono study.” Formally known as IRB Study # STU49320, it aims to predict who will develop Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) after being diagnosed with mono. But the average student has no clue about the specifics of the study, what their results show, or whether the University sells their blood on the dark web. Frankly, nobody cares. Anyone can qualify – just be 18 years old and a freshman/sophomore – and complete a survey and consent to some graduate students toying with that precious, profitable “plasma” of yours. It feels almost too easy. Criminal, even. And getting paid for it? That’s blood money.