Scientists find way to remove lead from blood  HONG KONG Fri Jan
16, 2009 12:50pm EST  Blood samples are pictured at the Swiss
Laboratory for Doping Analysis in Epalinges, July 15, 2008.
REUTERS/Valentin Flauraud   Credit: Reuters/Valentin Flauraud
HONG KONG (Reuters) - South Korean scientists may have found a
way to remove dangerous heavy metals such as lead from blood by
using specially designed magnetic receptors.  The receptors bind
strongly to lead ions and can be easily removed, along with
their lead cargo, using magnets, they wrote in an article in
Angewandte Chemie International Edition, a leading chemistry
journal.  "Detoxification could theoretically work like
hemodialysis: the blood is diverted out of the body and into a
special chamber containing the biocompatible magnetic
particles," they wrote in a statement.  "By using magnetic
fields, the charged magnetic particles could be fished out. The
purified blood is then reintroduced to the patient."  Lead is a
dangerous heavy metal and is especially