London

The British government has suspended the use of genetic test results to determine premiums for life insurance.

The five-year moratorium is an attempt to halt the trend of insurers using data from genetic tests to set policy rates. Such tests can indicate whether an individual is likely to develop certain life-threatening diseases.

Last year, the government gave insurers the right to use a test for Huntington's disease to set premiums for life and critical illness. This was the first such approval anywhere in the world, but it was based on the fact that Huntington's is a special case: anyone carrying the gene will develop the degenerative brain disorder.

But in February of this year it was revealed that some insurance companies were using results from three genetic tests that had not been approved — for early-onset Alzheimer's disease, and hereditary breast and ovarian cancers. The government's Genetics and Insurance Committee is currently considering whether insurers should be able to use these tests in policy assessments.

Health minister Philip Hunt described the voluntary moratorium as “breathing space” to work with insurance companies to get things right, but warned that the government would legislate if the industry did not comply.

Insurance companies can still use the test for Huntington's disease, but only for very large policies, such as life insurance of over £500,000 (US$730,000). Previously, the test was used for all levels of life insurance. Companies will also be able to use other tests when providing very high levels of cover, but only if the tests manage to get approval from the Genetics and Insurance Committee.