A transplant surgeon is urging people not to put their organs up for sale after a report that desperate Britons are offering body parts on the internet.

Keith Rigg, a surgeon at Nottingham City Hospital, said he was aware of the trade and warned it could be potentially fatal.

"We have heard of this going on. I'm aware there are internet sites where people are putting organs up for sale," he said.

"We would condemn it. People are so desperate there is a market for it."

Mr Rigg said the UK had a one in 3,000 chance of a person who donates a kidney dying after the operation.


The Sun newspaper reported that people are selling their kidneys, parts of their liver and eyes to raise money to pay off debts.

It claimed an undercover reporter met a 24-year-old waiter who had advertised his organs on the internet.

The man, named as Umer Maqbool, apparently told the reporter he wanted the money to buy a house for his family in Pakistan and to start a business.

He said: "I'm ready to sell my kidney, a section of liver and maybe after three months do the cornea in my eye.

"I'm ready to do it today. I want £100,000 for all three."


http://lifestyle.aol.co.uk/health/internet-trade-in-organs-condemned/article/20070107232809990001