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Is Having Blood Taken a Poor choice
"I can say with 100% confidence that having blood taken is not, in anyway, advantageous to your health" - Dr. Mason Andrews, Delivered America's first in vitro baby "The buying and selling of blood has become big business in America - a multibillion-dollar industry that is largely unregulated by the government." - Dr. Robert Jarvik, Inventor of Jarvik-7 artificial heart Read this article or skip right to the reasons. Learn about what real people are doing to fight this corruption. It came to my attention recently that many individuals are living under the false assumption that having blood taken is heathy. People professing this train of thought usually spew factoids about how the process forces your body to create fresh new blood, which apparently is better than your old blood. Well let's think about this...If giving blood was healthy wouldn't everyone do it regularly? Would not hospitals offer to just cut your arm and let you bled a bit at yearly checkups? 
There is a reason that you are only allowed to give blood once every three months. It's because giving blood is terrible for you. When blood is taken from you intravenously your immune system takes a hit, exposing you to a great degree of blood born pathogens with fewer vital white blood cells to fend them off with. Let's not be selfish though, even if donating blood isn't good for you it's okay because you're helping people. You are helping people that really need blood or at least that what the mosquitos tell us.
I hate mosquitos. The sneakily bastards bite me when I'm sleeping, stealing my blood and energy. In the morning I awake to find a small bump, a token of the mosquitos appreciation. Not all mosquitos have wings and fly around, some mosquitos masquerade cityscapes, colleges and even highschools in an attempt to leech human life-force. This mosquitos swarm is known collectively as the Central Blood Bank.
The CEO of Central Blood Bank, is making $357,000 a year trying to come up with new ways to suck your blood. What a great idea for a company, your main commodity is virtually free, except for a snack-sized bag of pretzels or a complementary water bottle for every pint of fresh blood. A pint of blood is calculated to be worth roughly 120 USD on the free market.
"What began as a generous "gift of life" from people in Appleton, Wisconsin to their neighbors ended up as part of a chain of blood brokered to hospitals in Manhattan, where patients were charged $120 a pint. Along that 2,777-mile route, human blood became just another commodity."
If the corporate vampirism doesn't bother you consider this. People that give blood are three times more likely to become ill up to one month after giving a pint or more. Three out of every 100,000 people that give blood will get a blood-born illness from infected blood-bags or needles. Finally people that give blood regularly (four times a year) are 13 times at greater risk for diabetes II and stroke. It's your choice if to give blood. I suggest you save time and just cut your wrist at home and bleed a pint or two into the toilet. I guarantee it will be faster and you won't be contributing to corporate vampirism.
A few reasons giving blood is a terrible decision:
The angry yellow duck declares : =) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The huge albino alligator yells : Don\'t you think this is a bit of an exaggeration? All the equipment they use these days in America is new, so there is no chance to transmission of infectious diseases from improperly sterilized equipment, as you say. I am not saying it\'s a great thing to be contributing to companies making a profit off of selling a life-giving fluid. If you or someone in your family becomes sick and needs a transfusion, you will realize that one person made a sacrifice and someone got paid so you could live. Spend your time fighting over some more corrupt bastards out there - like insurance companies who try to save money by denying people coverage, or the farm bill which makes virtually all of the processed foods we eat cheaper, allows corporations to make a sweet profit, and is making our country terribly sick. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The zany blue lemur speaks : I don\'t know why you are yelling you silly alligator but when you say, \"so there is no chance to transmission of infectious diseases from improperly sterilized equipment\" I would disagree b/c there it is always a possibility although most likely smaller today than it was years ago. While there is a chance your blood could go to healthy nice people similar to your family there is a better probability of it going to some black gang banger thug who just got shot in the leg in a botched bank robbery. As for lawyers I generally agree with you. They get paid to make a big maze and then you have to pay others to complete the big maze for you. They could simplify the law system but then all the lawyers would be out of work? -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The dying yellow horse yells : What a bunch of rot! You should really check your facts before you go blasting the blood banking industry. Your local blood banks are NOT FOR PROFIT agencies. Do you think electricity to keep the blood products stored at the proper temperatures is free? How about the myriad of laboratory testing the blood goes through to ensure it is safe for the patient? Don\'t forget the staff that draws the blood and the staff that processes the blood. Oh, and not to mention the equipment maintenance that is involved to keep blood collection equipment/processing equipment in working order. All of this is a considerable cost which is why a unit of blood costs what it does. The blood banks are not out to \"make a buck\", but they do need to recuperate some of these costs. As far as blood banks not being regulated by the government, you are seriously mistaken. Blood is considered a drug and is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. (A *gasp!* GOVERNMENT agency!!) The FDA holds regular inspections of every single operating blood bank in the United States, and if there are violations the blood bank can be shut down. That being said most of the donors I know that have been donating for over ten years are pretty unhealthy now, so I guess it could be bad for you, Get your facts straight and stop spreading untruths about blood donation/blood banks! -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The scrawny pink barracuda yells : Lets hope most readers trust scientific facts rather than what is said here, which has no factual evidence. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The huge red eagle yells : Articles like this just make me want to visit your wbesite even more. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The small grey penguin yells : You\'re right. These blood banks should just give away blood. After all, they have no overhead. All those vans, machines, personnel, etc.? All that is free. Yeah. As someone who works in the medical field, scientifically illiterate people that spread bullshit like this make me sick. The local blood bank that supplies my hospital charges us next to nothing for the blood we get. What they do charge keeps them in business so we have a steady supply of blood to transfuse into our patients. It\'s generally a good idea to get educated about something before you criticize it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The obese blood covered salamander bellows : This is embarrassing. With no sources, no factual statistics, and outrageous exaggerations, I cannot believe anyone would even finish reading this article. Go to the red cross\' website. Read some real statistics and stories of patients who have lived because they were given donated blood. I would love to hear what they have to say to this ignorance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
