[BlazingArizona]

With one hand, Big Pharma is patenting every part of the human genome its lawyers can get their mitts on; with the other, it hides behind a mask of moral high-mindedness when it comes to paying people for medical products from human donors.

Many of my fellow old-timers will remember when "blood bank" was NOT just an expression - these places functioned like actual banks. The blood you gave was accounted for, and if you needed surgical blood years later, you got credit for units you had donated. You could also sign over units to relatives and friends to mitigate their medical bills. No longer: no matter how much blood you donate, you get gouged for every unit you use.

[Coleus]

No longer: no matter how much blood you donate, you get gouged for every unit you use. >>

i don't like that new policy, what they tell donors now is that they can't guarantee blood if no blood is there. Many donors call their donor chairmen for blood for a loved one and all they can tell them that it's on a first-come first-served basis by FDA rules.

[VOA]

With one hand, Big Pharma is patenting every part of the human genome
its lawyers can get their mitts on; with the other, it hides behind
a mask of moral high-mindedness when it comes to paying people for
medical products from human donors.

Agreed.
One of the first signs of cracks in the reputation of the South
Korean "cloner" was the question of how he'd gotten human eggs.
I was a bit suprised to hear the general thought in the scientific "ethics"
arena was that eggs should be donated, not sold.

Embryonic stem-cell workers say they are just working with
a purely materialistic phenonmenon in terms of embryonic stem cells.
Not much different than buying lumber in order to build houses.

But when it comes time to obtain the raw materials like any company
does....they want the necessary raw materials for FREE!

What a bunch of hypocrites.