magnetic sterilization

Jean-Pierre Lentin ( lentin@imaginet.fr )
Sun, 5 Apr 1998 12:33:26 +0200 (MET DST)

I read this short news in the current issue of "Science & Vie" (a French
popular science magazine, very mainstream and always ferociously opposed to
any alternative health or fringe science claims...). Here is the full
translation.

"Magnetic sterilization (title). Agro-alimentary products sterilized by
pulsed magnetic field : an experimental facility near Bordeaux will test in
real scale this new technique. The process works perfectly with cardboard or
plastic containers, that don't block intense magnetic fields. On the other
hand it cannot be used when the products are enclosed in metal containers.
Intense pulsed magnetic fields, applied for very brief periods (on the order
of the millisecond) have a decontaminating effect and destroy
micro-organisms or inactivate them. The cause of this effect is yet unknown.
One supposes they stop cellular growth."

The article doesn't give any name, but I plan to investigate and know more
about it (and keep you posted). Potentially it could be a very good news, as

1/ it would provide an alternative to dangerous sterilization by X-Ray
irradiation

2/ it would be the first time that an anti-microbial effect for pulsed
magnetic field would be recognized by mainstream science / technology.

(Right now pulsed magnetism is slowly gaining acceptance in some hospitals
for bone repair, scar & wound healing, pain control and more recently
chronic depression...But antibiotic action, that would be a new era !)

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Jean-Pierre Lentin
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