In a statement, the British Transplantation Society said there was "an accumulating body of evidence" to suggest that organs from executed Chinese prisoners were being removed -- without consent -- for transplantation.

"This process of organ procurement and the subsequent transplants are known to involve payment of money and may implicate transplant centres, patients and the authorities and judiciary responsible for the prisoners," it said.

While the exact number of such transplants is not known, "the figure is thought to be in the thousands," it said.

It branded the practice "unethical ... an unacceptable practice (and) a breach of human rights".

It added that, given "worldwide shortages of ethically acceptable organs, any act that risks calling the practice of transplantation into disrepute is to be regretted".

Concern that China -- first in the world in capital punishment, with at least 3,400 executions last year alone, according to Amnesty International -- is using the dead convicts as organ donors goes back many years.

In a major report 12 years ago, Human Rights Watch said up to 3,000 organs, mainly kidneys and corneas, were being taken from executed prisoners every year, with government officials reportedly enjoying priority for operations.

Last month Beijing announced it would ban the growing trade in human organs, amid domestic pressure to regulate the chaotic industry and reports that Japanese and Malaysians had died from botched transplants.

Its health ministry issued regulations to go into effect on July 1 banning the purchase and sale of organs, while also introducing a set of medical standards for transplants.

In a phone interview with AFP, Stephen Wigmore, chairman of the British Transplantation Society's ethics committee, said the group decided to take a stand in light of the number of Britons enquiring about transplants in China.

"Increasingly, patients from the UK are looking towards China as a source of potential organs for transplants," he said.

"We wanted to make both the medical profession and patients aware in the UK that there are some moral and ethnical dilemmas which may not be evident" from websites which offer to help arrange transplants in China.

One such website, www.en.zoukiishoku.com, offers kidney transplants for 62,000 dollars (50,000 euros) and heart transplants for up to 160,000 dollars. It does not say where the organs come from.

Wigmore recalled that, typically, a liver must be transplanted within 12 hours of a donor's death, and a kidney in 24 to 36 hours.

"It almost sounds as though the timing of an execution is at the convenience of the timing of a transplant," he said.

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