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Friday, March 25, 2011

Dreama wants your body

     
   She really, really does. Not right this minute, though -- she isn't that kind of girl. 
    The totally dreamy Dreama wants your body, but not until you're dead.
    She is the luminous, compelling face of a "blog" that is actually an ongoing advertisement for one of the largest dealers of human cadavers in the country.
    Your body is a wonderland, to quote the singer-songwriter John Mayer. It is particularly wondrous to those with a throbbing profit motive in their larcenous little hearts. To them, you are a real hunk, whatever gender you are.
    Your body is priceless to you, but to those in the burgeoning, ghoulish cadaver market, it does have a price -- a very sexy price, indeed. They can make between $10,000 and $100,000 on it, depending on how it gets carved up. All they ask is that you donate it "to science," and they'll take care of the rest.
    While the number of bodies being donated to university medical schools is declining -- even as their needs increase -- the "body brokers" in the private sector are doing a booming business. Universities have the subtlety to rely on occasional press coverage and word of mouth to inspire people to donate, but the corporate guys are out there trolling nursing homes, retirement communities, poor neighborhoods and the Internet for receptive individuals.
      In next week's post, we'll explore the "underbelly" of this disturbing industry.