The health secretary has pledged to ban all forms of human cloning as part of the government's answer to the genetics revolution.

Alan Milburn made an upbeat and ground-breaking speech on Thursday in which he set out the future of genetic science in the UK.

The speech to the Institute of Human Genetics in Newcastle sought to both reassure public concerns about breakthroughs in gene science but, importantly, for a subject often regarded with fear and unease, to emphasise the potential of developments for health.

Announcing government initiatives "to ensure Britain gets the best from advances in genetic technology and treatment", the health secretary sought to slay the "twin spectres" of human cloning and the eugenic dystopia of a "genetic underclass".

Confirming that legislation in the next parliament will be brought forward to comprehensively ban all forms of human reproductive cloning, Milburn restated the government's commitment to a moratorium on the use of genetic tests by insurance firms.

Acknowledging the previous reticence of health secretaries to speak on the controversial topic of genetics and health, Milburn urged Britain to "get to grips" with uncertainty about the impact and ethical implications of the new science.

"It is time for politicians and the public as wells as scientists to engage with the issue," he said.

"The implications of the advances in genetic knowledge are enormous - equal potentially for the conquest of disease to the discovery of antibiotics. This is a revolution, with the potential in the first half of this century to dwarf the impact computer technology had on society in the second half of the last century."

Calling for debate and warning of the rise an anti-science outlook, Milburn addressed the "strong public scepticism, sometimes even hostility" towards genetics attacking those who make "false claims" for exacerbating fears and creating confusion as to "where the science of genetics ends and the nightmare of eugenics begins".

"The pre-condition for dispelling some of the myths and ending much of the confusion is better engagement between the medical and scientific communities and society as a whole. Government and the media share a responsibility to help foster a well informed, national debate about the promise and the problems genetic discoveries hold out for our country in the years to come," he said.

To provide "positive safeguards to address the public's concerns" Milburn committed the government to seek legislation banning human reproductive cloning, presently prohibited by the licensing Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

Taking on concerns over the use of genetic testing by insurance companies and the rise of a "genetic underclass" the health secretary will await a report by the Human Genetics Commission - expected in mid-May - and will legislate if necessary.

Moving the debate on, Milburn challenged the NHS to take on the "genetics revolution" - from laboratory workbench to hospital ward - and ensure that scientific breakthroughs are passed on to patients. With this aim he announced a £30 million five point plan for NHS genetic services:

- By 2006 the number of specialist consultants in genetics willdouble from 77 to 140.

- The number of NHS scientific and technicians working in genetics will rise by 300 over the next five years.

- The number of specialist genetic counsellors working in the NHS will increase by at least 150.

- Two new national laboratories for genetics will be set up, specialising in rare genetic disorders or diseases to identify new tests and treatments that can bring benefits to patients.

- NHS genetics services are to be reorganised into a single, national network to ensure that there is no "postcode lottery" on delivery.

Milburn also announced new agreements and discussions with both the Cancer Research Campaign and American pharmaceutical firm Myriad giving NHS breast cancer patients access to the latest research and tests.

The government is also to invest £10 million in a Genetics Knowledge Challenge Fund to set up four genetics knowledge parks. Universities, NHS Trusts and private sector firms are expected to develop joint proposals for the parks, which could be based either in existing centres or in new ones.

But opposition parties have sounded a note of caution. Shadow health secretary, Liam Fox, has urged the setting up of a National Ethics Committee.

"All reasonable people would, I believe, accept that just because we can do something it does not follow we should do it. By extension, the fact that science enables us to do something does not mean that we should be allowed to do it," he said.

In a rare note of agreement Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Nick Harvey, said: "Significant ethical problems arise when legislation falls behind scientific practice and it is in all our interests to ensure that in the name of progress we do not descend down the slippery slope."