# How Much is the Human Body Worth? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764 "2000-08-25T20:50:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/1 "2000-08-25T20:50:26Z")
Based purely on mineral/water/whatever composition, what is the commercial value of the human body? Pennies? Less than a dollar? I’m not talking what you can get for a kidney , etc., I mean the actual elements that make up a human body, what’s the value? ---
**Author:** ![Mundo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mundo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/2 "2000-08-25T21:04:06Z")
I seem to remeber reading in Popular Science magazine (sorry I don’t know which volume) that the human body is worth $1 mil. I seem to remember them getting most of this value based on the price to buy certain chemicals on the open market. If you break them down into their atoms I would think it would be considerably less money. Just think if you want a million bucks you could sell your body to science, or spend a month on an island with a small hope of winning the money. It’s your choice. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/3 "2000-08-25T21:08:01Z")
[Here you go](http://members.tripod.com/earthdude1/sell_your_body/bodysale.html). Courtesy of sugaree, finder of interesting things. ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/4 "2000-08-25T21:25:32Z")
> [@](#): > > How Much is the Human Body Worth? Holy shit. Now I’m _really_ scared… :eek: ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/5 "2000-08-25T21:36:03Z")
there’s a more complete chart (by atom count) from nanomedicine [here](http://www.foresight.org/Nanomedicine/Ch03_1.html#Tab0301). Of course, by atomic make-up, it isn’t very valuable. don’t know where to find out about value if you’re talking chemicals (proteins, etc.) Maybe Cecil could help out on this one. panama jack ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/6 "2000-08-25T21:36:07Z")
I was thinking about sick and/or kinky people who would pay good money for items made out of human body parts, and came up with a great way to make money, but I’m not sure about the legalities of it. Basically, you would pay people money for the right to their body after they die. You could give them a certain amount up front, say $5000, and then pay the rest to the family when they died. Then you could make various things out of the parts and sell them for a profit. You’d think that would be a long time to wait for the return on your investment, but once you got enough people signed up for it, odds are you would have fresh bodies every day (I read somewhere that when you look at a large crowd of people, like at the Superbowl, you can be certain that a handful of them will die that day). ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/7 "2000-08-25T21:38:04Z")
> [@](#): > > Holy shit. Now I’m really scared… bwahahaha! \ ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/8 "2000-08-25T21:50:03Z")
Badtz, the statistic about the Superbowl might be right, by the numbers, but that doesn’t mean that it’s likely that one person will die after leaving the stadium, that same day. This is because your sample isn’t representative: Folks at the Superbowl are likely to be young to middle-aged, and in good enough health to travel-- You don’t see many old geezers ready to keel over from old age in the stands. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/9 "2000-08-25T21:53:53Z")
I remember reading Robedag’s article as well. The upshot was that in terms of raw materials(minerals/elements/etc…) it wasn’t worth jack. Maybe 30 bucks. Now, in terms of chemicals & specific compounds such as hormones, growth factors, etc… it was worth a LOT more- more like Robedag’s million. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/10 "2000-08-25T22:50:17Z")
And I imagine that if you look at the “value” of the organs, assuming they could be used for transplants; the value of the skeleton for use in an anatomy class; etc… the number may be even higher than if you estimate the price of the complex molecules in the human body. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/11 "2000-08-25T22:58:29Z")
When my now 55-YO soph chem teacher was in HS, it was worth 45 cents. He thinks. I hazard a guess at at least 5 dollars now. Possibly more depending on what you extract. And how you extract it. Arnold, not to nit-pick, but I think the OP was talking about chemicals, not organs. Organs would fetch pretty decent numbers if such was legal. As it’s not, the numbers are even higher (hence ULs about such). ---
**Author:** ![poohpah\_chalupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@poohpah\_chalupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poohpah_chalupa)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/12 "2000-08-26T02:46:24Z")
I thought it was, like, $100.00 an hour or $500.00 for the night. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/13 "2000-08-26T04:37:10Z")
So, uh, psy, you settin’ up a chop shop? ---
**Author:** ![Dijon\_Warlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9a28c/32.png) [@Dijon\_Warlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dijon_Warlock)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/14 "2000-08-26T05:09:39Z")
Um…whose body are we talking about, exactly? I mean, if this is another Brittney Spears thread… ---
**Author:** ![Demo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demo/32/8472_2.png) [@Demo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Demo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/15 "2000-08-26T05:48:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by beatle \* > \*\*So, uh, psy, you settin’ up a chop shop? \*\* Don’t encourage her for the love of god! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/16 "2000-08-26T14:38:37Z")
Twenty bucks. For about 20 minutes. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/17 "2000-08-26T22:52:32Z")
They said chemically on Pop Up Video it was worth about a dollar fifty… Not that PUV is a reliable source… ---
**Author:** ![Silo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@Silo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2000, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/18 "2000-08-26T23:36:28Z")
Ok, I’m gonna auction my body on e-bay. What should I set my reserve at? ---
**Author:** ![Surgoshan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Surgoshan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surgoshan)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/19 "2000-08-27T06:18:12Z")
Well, depending on what organ they want it for… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2000, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-is-the-human-body-worth/30764/20 "2000-08-27T14:09:39Z")
**Silo** , e-bay doesn’t accept auctions for bodies or body parts. I checked.