Health secretary, Alan Milburn, is to pledge a tougher regulatory regime on insurance companies seeking to use the results of genetic testing.

However, Milburn is expected to reassure the public of the benefits of genetic science and testing when it is well regulated and used by the NHS and will announce the wider availability of genetic tests for cancer - the health service has struck a deal with the Cancer Research Campaign allowing doctors to use a test for breast cancer wiuthout paying a fee.

"The NHS over the next decade and beyond can put Britain at the leading edge of this new frontier, not just in advances on genetic testing but to develop for Britain modern genetic health services un-rivalled anywhere in the world," he will say.

He will also promise legislation - the first in the world - after a general election banning the cloning of humans.