The consensus followed a public debate held here last week to discuss the draft on ethical guidelines in biomedical research involving human subjects.

The participants said though there is no genetic nearness, vital for organs to be harvested and transplanted, wives are often used as the proverbial sacrificial lambs in India. The word `spouse' tops the list of possible donors under the OTA and in the Indian milieu, the wife inevitably is the donor, CECHR said. The group recommended the constitution of a national advisory board and central medical protocol group at the national level, besides independent ethics committees for monitoring research involving humansubjects.

The group also felt that in view of the shortage of organs, cloning of human organs should be encouraged in the country.

But xenotransplant or harvesting organs from animals should not be allowed ``at this point of time'' as mechanisms of viruses jumping from animals to human beings have not been fully understood, programme convenor D Balasubramanyam said.