Antarctica research suspended

Scientists have been ordered to suspend their controversial Antarctica 'ocean fertilization' experiment. Science correspondent  Julian Rush reports.

Scientists on board a German polar research ship off Antarctica have been ordered by the German government to suspend their controversial "ocean fertilisation" experiment - because it may be in breach of an international treaty.

A British team is part of the joint Indian-German expedition in the Southern ocean. The researchers want to drop iron into the sea to create a bloom of plankton some 300 square km in size to see if it might one day be a way to reduce global warming.

But they have denied their research is intended to pave the way for the commercialisation of the technology.