11/13/2023 0 Comments Pro shred elite trial![]() ![]() She turns to me with a smile and declares: "Good news! You're unfit enough to be in this study!"įew test subjects have as much experience as Scott, who, like Nick, requested anonymity to protect his earning power. The exercise physiologist takes a reading. Every two minutes, the study's head researcher drains a few drops of my blood.Īfter 15 minutes, I'm drenched in sweat and gasping for breath. Four tubes extend from the mouthpiece, one of which pumps a mixture of acetylene, helium, oxygen, and nitrogen into my lungs. I huff and puff into a gas mask-like apparatus. A blood- tapping device called a heparin lock protrudes from a vein in my arm, and electrodes are attached to 10 freshly shaved spots on my chest. Not long afterward, I find myself marching on a steeply inclined treadmill at the UC San Francisco hospital. The pay is commensurate with the risk: $200 plus free food for three weeks. So I settle for a study observing the effects of Stone Age nutrition - the so-called Paleolithic diet - on modern-day Americans of average physical condition. I'm thrilled to come across a notice on craigslist looking for subjects to demonstrate the impact of the club drug GHB on driving ability I imagine myself going to raves and then speeding home, a clinician riding shotgun. I could forgo part of the fee and withdraw at any time. However, it wouldn't obligate me to complete a study. I learn that signing the required consent form could mean I have to sue to collect additional compensation should something go horribly wrong. (The name stands for Guinea Pigs Get Paid.) Then I stop by BioTrax for online information about the screening process. I start by searching, a site that lists upcoming studies in the US, Canada, and Europe. Photograph by Michael Lewis _Eager to experience _the guinea pig life firsthand, I decide to enroll in a study near my home in San Francisco. We're in a culture that's a little more devil-may-care, a little foolhardy." And, hey, if you can't make a living behind the wheel, why not try your luck at the other end of an IV?Įx-union organizer Robert Helms created the zine Guinea Pig Zero and incited fellow lab rats to demand more compensation during a Merck drug trial. "But even in the three years since I started, it has become more socially acceptable. ![]() "Back in the day, the world of the lab rat was grifters, losers, and hustlers," Nick says. Guys like Nick - smart, organized, restless - are typical of a new wave of guinea pigs. He has earned a total of $80,000 swigging chemically enhanced sport shakes, popping pills laced with radioactive carbon 14, submitting to 36 blood draws over a four-day stretch, and pooping in a box. He has participated in some two dozen studies, shuttling between test labs in Baltimore Boston Fargo, North Dakota and Trenton, New Jersey. Since then, Nick, 36, has become a full-time guinea pig. The promise: $6,500 for four 12-day stints of blood draws, echo cardiograms, and physical checkups. Feeling desperate, he applied to join a drug trial in Baltimore. So, for a change of scenery, he moved to Richmond, Virginia, where an acquaintance told him there was money to be made as a test subject in medical studies. He was living in a converted barn and putting every spare penny into paying off a $12,000 debt he had accrued in college. was driving a delivery truck in Milwaukee when his life hit a rough patch. Photograph by Michael Lewis Every year, millions of volunteers participate in clinical trials in return for quick cash. has earned $80,000 participating in some two dozen studies. A full-time medical test subject, Nick F. ![]()
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