Magnets can now be used to remove dangerous endocrine poisons from water
supplies. Researchers at Japan’s National Institute for Materials Science near
Tokyo coated magnetic ferric oxide particles with a carbon isotope that attracts
bisphenol A, and added the particles to water. Bisphenol A is used in making
plastics and can disrupt human growth, reproduction and development. After the
particles were removed with a magnet, the concentration of bisphenol A had
fallen from 2.7 to 0.2 parts per million. The ferric oxide can be washed with
alcohol and reused.
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