Google, the search engine giant, has launched Google Health, a free service for patients offering a personal electronic medical record (www.google.com/health). But the move has prompted fears over the security of health information stored in this way.

President George Bush has promoted electronic health records as a means of reducing medical errors and cutting the costs of health care in the United States. But uptake has so far been slow.

The new Google service will compete with similar services offered by other commercial internet health services, such as WebMD. Electronic medical histories are also stored by major health insurance companies.

An individual will be able to create an account, protected by a password, and enter personal medical records, either by keying them …