Donate Poop, Make $13,000: Fecal Microbiota Transplant Creates Demand For Human Feces

The idea of earning money by donating your feces may be something that you might have never heard of but reports say that donating your stool could be worth some extra cash.

According to a report in News.com.au, donors are being paid $50 for each delivery which makes it $250 a week and $13,000 per year in Australia's Centre for Digestive Disease.

Reports state that the high demand for feces is primarily because if its use for medical purposes such as Fecal Microbiota Transplant or stool transplant — the process of transporting fecal bacteria from a healthy person into a recipient.

According to the website thefecaltransplantfoundation.org, Stool transplant can be defined as a method in which “fecal matter, or stool, is collected from a tested donor, mixed with a saline or other solution, strained, and placed in a patient, by colonoscopy, endoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, or enema."

The purpose of the transplant is to replace good bacteria that have been killed or concealed by the use of antibiotics, further causing bad bacteria especially “Clostridium difficile, or C. diff., to over-populate the colon.”

The infection could cause a condition called C.diff. colitis, which could result in often debilitating, sometimes fatal diarrhea.

The report states that poop transplants are now being used to help other medical conditions as well, namely autism, multiple sclerosis, and chronic diarrhea.

The reason for the financial incentive is that the Centre for Digestive Disease reportedly has a shortage of donors.

However, the treatment in itself is surely gaining momentum as a gastroenterologist at Centre for Digestive Disease, Professor Thomas Boroday, said that he performs more than 12,000 fecal microbiota transfers, averaging 10 treatments per day.

But if you wish to become a donor, there is a catch; a prerequisite for signing the contract to become a donor is that the person needs to be healthy and have the appropriate body mass index (BMI).

In addition to that, the donor is also required to eat healthy, wholesome food like whole wheat bread and pasta, fresh vegetables, pulses, and fruits. The donor should avoid food items such as corn, shellfish, prawns, oysters, salami, ham, sausages, and antibiotics.

The process to become a donor is quite uncomplicated. One must fill out a form, have a blood test done and provide three stool tests. If the tests are successful, the person can officially donate his/her poop.

It is also imperative for the donor to stay in the vicinity of the Centre for Digestive Diseases at Five Dock, in Sydney's inner west, because the sample needs to be delivered within a couple of hours of passing the motion.

Reports state there are similar facilities available in the United States too. A non-profitable stool bank named OpenBiome pays the similar amount of money to its donors as the Centre for Digestive Diseases. The stool bank is situated in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville, Massachusetts.