I've had several professors in my science classes tell students they should not sell their plasma. There are several adverse reactions that can happen and they said they are WAY underpaid for the plasma.
If you really want to help people, become a blood or plasma donor for the Red Cross. They take special care of you and treat you well. You can know that the blood you donate goes to patients that need it.
Things to watch out for are dehydration (you lose 1/2 gal of water), anemia, low calcium levels, and lowered antibodies. If you noticed feeling drained, or that you can't kick the bugs and viruses you run into, I would stop doing it. Other things such as hematomas and bruising are regularly reported. In between donations, you are supposed to eat a high-protein diet. Since this is something commonly done by students, and a lot of students live off mac n cheese and rice, I wonder if they would really go buy a steak so they could donate again.
As to why they were underpaid, the professor was speaking in terms of value. Think of it as gold. If you had gold in your veins, you are getting paid $23/oz, then the plasma center is reselling your blood to XYZ pharmaceutical/research company for $1600/oz. An article written in 2008, said that while oil is worth $100/barrel, a barrel of blood is worth about $20,000, and if it was processed is can be worth $60,000. Another article states this:
"For profit donation centers will pay $8.00 -$20.00 dollars for the first donation and then to encourage the donor to come back, will pay a higher price for the second donation within the seven day period.
Depending on the weight of the individual, the donation center will take 690mL to 880mL per donation. The 880mL bottles bring a price of anywhere from $300.00 to $1,700.00 when sold to the Pharmaceutical companies. If there is anything wrong with the plasma, if it's hemolysised (infused with red blood cells) or if the plasma is lipemic (excess fat within the plasma) the plasma is sold to veterinarian companies and bring a lesser price for the donation center.
Plasma donation was worth approximately 4.5 billion dollars in 2007. Today there are approximately 1.5 to 2 million donors worldwide and is expected to grow significantly in the struggling economy of 2009."
Article Source:
http://EzineArticles.com/2464870From what I understand, paid donations cannot be used "to save a life" like whole donated blood can. But they can be purchased by pharmaceutical companies to make drugs that indeed save lives. The cost of those drugs for the patient (and their insurance company) ranges from $20k to $50k/year. Other uses that I know of are in research and in making veterinarian meds. I understand that the Red Cross sells some of it's blood and blood products to pay for its operating costs. I guess I'd rather the money go to the Red Cross than a for-profit plasma center.