LONDON: At least a dozen Britons have offered to sell their kidneys for 25,000 pounds or more each to beat credit crunch and pay off their debts, a media report said today.

Their advertisements offering kidney have appeared on the internet and five of them corresponded with undercover journalists, who posed as friends and relatives of sick patients to negotiate sales, The Sunday Times claimed.

One person willing to sell a kidney is a 26-year-old mental health nurse who said he wanted the money to pay debts after his business collapsed. Another, a 43-year-old taxi driver from Lancashire, sought to raise the cash to pay off some of his mortgage and buy a new kitchen.

Meanwhile, a leading doctor said the phenomenon highlighted the need for a public debate on the issue of selling organs.

Professor Peter Friend, a former president of the British Transplant Society, said, "The West has outlawed it for all sorts of good reasons, but the result is it goes underground. It is really important to have a debate."

About 7,000 people in the UK are waiting for kidney transplants and 300 died last year while on the waiting list.

Offering to sell an organ in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is an offence under the Human Tissue Act even if the seller is planning to travel to another country for the transplant operation.

If it saved a life I would, but I would only do it for free.

My sister-in-law has had 2 kidney transplants, the first failed, and the second was donated by her sister. She now lives a dialysis free life.