A cancer researcher yesterday urged the government to set up a universal genetic screening programme to identify the thousands of Britons with an exceptionally high inherited risk of developing bowel cancer.

Sir Walter Bodmer said he and his colleagues from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund had discovered a set of inherited genetic variations which give anyone carrying them a seven to eight times' increased risk of developing the disease.

But while Sir Walter argues that early diagnosis of the condition would mean more effective treatment, the implications for insurance policies following genetic tests remains a murky area.

At the moment, the Association of British Insurers' (ABI) code prohibits insurers from asking applicants to undergo genetic tests and ABI members cannot ask applicants to disclose any test results for policies valued under £300,000.

For policies over this amount, insurers can only take into account the tests approved by the Genetics and Insurance Committee (GAIC). At present, this only allows insurers to use test results for one disease, Huntingdon's disease, when applicants are applying for life insurance.

"We haven't set a time limit on this moratorium," said ABI spokesperson Suzanne Moore. "We introduced it in answer to fears consumers were having about genetic testing. It is designed to allow the industry to step back and have some breathing space on the issue."

The insurance industry is largely keen to access the results of genetic tests, as it argues this would make pricing policies more accurate. However, positive test results could result in unmanageably high premiums for those concerned.

There is also some concern that genetic tests only illustrate one side of the story when people are applying for insurance. The tests show a genetic predisposition to an illness but they don't take into account factors such as diet, health and stress levels of the person concerned, factors which can also lead to illness.

Labour indicated in its manifesto that it would consider introducing legislation to impose a moratorium for genetic testing if the Human Genetics Commission recommended this course of action.

The HGC did in fact recommend a moratorium, suggesting it should apply to policies valued up to £500,000. However, the expected commitment to a moratorium by the Labour government failed to appear in the Queen's speech last week, and the ABI believes the government may allow its existing moratorium to continue.

Sir Walter said that he believed insurance companies' access to genetic data needed to be regulated, but that mass genetic testing was a boon to efficient health care.