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What is Benzocaine?Benzocaine (Ethyle-4-amino benzoate) is an aromatic compound with local anaesthetic as well as antibacterial effects. In Sweden it is one of the active substances in a lozenge called Bafucin against sore throat, but in the United States it is mainly used in different types of pastes and gels. The acetyl group breaks easily in aquatic solution whereby acetate and amino benzoate are formed. Because it breaks down fast, it is good when you are looking for a local effect, and don't want the substance to be absorbed by the body. |
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Benzocaine is also an alias I started to use long time ago, when I first came in contact with the Internet and started to visit different chats in IRC (Internet Relay Chat). I am a pharmacist Pfizer in Helsingborg. I was born in Uppsala near Stockholm, where I lived for 25 years before I felt I had to widen my views, and so I moved to the south of Sweden. In my spare time, I play basketball in a division 3 team called KFUM Tigers and am coaching boys born 1992 in IK Eos in Lund. Eos originally started as a organization for long distance walking in 1948, but the basketball section grew stronger and stronger until there were no walking activities left. The name Eos comes from the Goddess of Dawn, because the man who founded the club very much enjoyed walking in the early morning ours. |
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Enough about my basketball club. Just like the substance Benzocaine, I am a very versatile person. During the days I work at Pfizer in Helsingborg, in the afternoons I practice basketball, either as a player, or coaching the boys born 1992 team. In the night time, when I really should be sleeping, I use to sit by the computer writing E-mails, debate articles on chat forums and write homepages. Apart from all the things I do on behalf of myself, I am also an active member of the Swedish Humanists, an organization for those of us who want to base our lives upon a life stance built on reason and critical thinking instead of blind faith and hopes for divine intervention. I am both a member of the election board, and the one who initiated the creation (or should I say evolution) of our web page. 
Another web page I started was for my old team in Uppsala, Sallén Basket. When I left town, another person took over, and I think the page has improved since then. I am also a member of the Swedish Skeptics. For all too obvious reasons I don't have the time to engage there too, but I am listed as a reference for those who have questions about alternative medicine.
The examination project during my pharmacological education did concern alternative medicine. The name of the essay was "Dokumentationsutvärdering av kliniska prövningar av Homeopati" (Documentational study of clinical trials on Homeopathy), and not unexpected I found no trial which showed that homeopathy was more effective than placebo. On the other hand, a meta-analysis of several hundred articles came to the conclusion that the trials published up till then did say that there was an effect that could not entirely be explained by the placebo effect. If you wish to read my essay (in Swedish) it is available here. Abstract in English here. |
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For alternative medicine, as well as the closely related subject of pseudoscience, is one of my interests. Because of that, this page is going to be dedicated to presenting some facts on natural drugs and alternative methods. The purpose is not to ridicule alternative medicine, but to present the documentation available even when it is not very supportive. There are so many people out there who deliberately distort the truth about alternative methods in order to make you their customer, and my intention is to balance their propaganda as much as possible. There are neither many unbiased articles for nor against alternative medicine on the web.