Originally Posted by Enthalpic
I'm sure you could find many chemists that would say its (MeOH) not really that dangerous (myself included). And yes everything is poison in excess. Even water has a lethal dose.
In a lab environment, using the proper precautions, I would agree that methanol isn't that dangerous nor as toxic as other things I could mention. I've used it in largeish quanitities in heated sealed reactors and don't have a problem with it. But I also have it in a hood under conditions that limit my exposure if something goes wrong and I wear personal protective equipment when I handle it. Plus I have 25 year experience dealing with it and other chemicals. Most home consumers don't have any experience dealing with it nor do they have any knowledge of the hazards of the compound itself. That's why this forum is so useful. We who do have knowledge of the material can impart our wisdom to those who don't.
As I've said before, if you have to use it, use it in the smallest quantity that you can, use it with proper ventilation, use gloves and be aware of the hazards. And, if you possibly can, find some "real" denatured ethanol, not the high methanol mixtures.