A body's worth

BerlinerCa · Aug 14th, 2006, 02:29 PM

After reading the thread on how much ehmac is worth I got to wondering how much I am worth. I mean just my body. I googled the question and came up with two pretty different figures.

Estimate# 1

	Quote:
	How much is my body worth? You're worth more than you think! A great number of people have spent a great deal of human and financial resources calculating the composition of, prior to the decomposition of, and the worth, or worthlessness of, the human body. When we total the monetary value of the elements in our bodies and the value of the average person's skin, we arrive at a net worth of $4.50! This value is, however, subject to change, due to stock market fluctuations. Since the studies leading to this conclusion were conducted by the U.S. and by Japan respectively, it might be wise to consult the New York Stock Exchange and the Nikkei Index before deciding when to sell! The U.S. Bureau of Chemistry and Soils invested many a hard-earned tax dollar in calculating the chemical and mineral composition of the human body, which breaks down as follows: 65% Oxygen 18% Carbon 10% Hydrogen 3% Nitrogen 1.5% Calcium 1% Phosphorous 0.35% Potassium 0.25% Sulfur 0.15% Sodium 0.15% Chlorine 0.05% Magnesium 0.0004% Iron 0.00004% Iodine Additionally, it was discovered that our bodies contain trace quantities of fluorine, silicon, manganese, zinc, copper, aluminum, and arsenic. Together, all of the above amounts to less than one dollar! Our most valuable asset is our skin, which the Japanese invested their time and money in measuring. The method the Imperial State Institute for Nutrition at Tokyo developed for measuring the amount of a person's skin is to take a naked person, and to apply a strong, thin paper to every surface of his body. After the paper dries, they carefully remove it, cut it into small pieces, and painstakingly total the person's measurements. Cut and dried, the average person is the proud owner of fourteen to eighteen square feet of skin, with the variables in this figure being height, weight, and breast size. Basing the skin's value on the selling price of cowhide, which is approximately $.25 per square foot, the value of an average person's skin is about $3.50

Estimate # 2

	Quote:
	How much is the human body worth? How much is a human body worth? When broken down into fluids, tissues and germ fighting our bodies are worth more than $45 million. This price tag on the human body is based on a survey published in Wired magazine. It found that vital organs are no longer the most valuable body parts. Rather, bone marrow heads the list…priced at $23 million, based on 1,000 grams at $23,000 per gram. DNA can fetch $9.7 million, while extracting antibodies can bring $7.3 million. A lung is worth $116,400, a kidney $91,400 and a heart $57,000. Women’s eggs are costlier than men's sperm. The survey found that a fertile woman could sell 32 egg cells over eight years for $224,000; however, for a man to earn the same amount, he would have to make 12 sperm donations a month for 20 years. The prices are based on cost estimates taken from hospitals and insurance companies, and are based on projected prices only in the United States. Of course, the prices also assume that all these substances can be extracted from living tissue for sale. Although this break down is illegal, unethical and also impossible, you should not feel like a million dollars anymore. You can feel like $45 million, instead! Resources: Read a summary of the Wired article. Information about more body parts and their monetary value. The human body, when broken down into its basic elements and minerals, is only worth about $4.50, however.

Sources #1 http://www.coolquiz.com/trivia/explain/docs/worth.asp
#2 http://soundmedicine.iu.edu/archive/...umanWorth.html

I'll take # 2 please