Methanol

Health and safety

Methanol is toxic, as its metabolites formic acid and formaldehyde cause blindness and death. It enters the body by ingestion, inhalation, or absorption through the skin. Fetal tissue will not tolerate methanol. Dangerous doses will build up if a person is regularly exposed to fumes or handles liquid without skin protection. If methanol has been ingested, a doctor should be contacted immediately. The usual fatal dose: 100–125 mL (4 fl oz). Toxic effects take hours to start, and effective antidotes can often prevent permanent damage. This is treated using ethanol or fomepizolehttp://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/107/1/170. Either of these drugs acts to slow down the action of alcohol dehydrogenase on methanol, so that it is excreted by the kidneys rather than being transformed into toxic metabolites. Though it is miscible with water, methanol is very hard to wash off the skin; it is best to treat methanol like gasoline.

Related Topics:
Toxic - Formic acid - Formaldehyde - Ingestion - Inhalation - Absorption - Skin - Ethanol - Fomepizole - Alcohol dehydrogenase - Kidney - Gasoline

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Symptoms of methanol ingestion are similar to those of intoxication: headache, dizziness, nausea, lack of coordination, confusion, drowsiness, followed by unconsciousness and death.

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The ester derivatives of methanol do not share this toxicity.

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Ethanol is sometimes denatured (adulterated), and thus made undrinkable, by the addition of methanol. The result is known as methylated spirit or "meths" (UK use). (The latter should not be confused with meth, a common abbreviation for methamphetamine.)

Related Topics:
Methylated spirit - Methamphetamine

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Pure methanol has been used in open wheel racing since the mid-1960's. Unlike petroleum fires, methanol fires can be extinguished with plain water (while methanol is lighter than water, they are miscible, and the addition of water will cause the fire to use its heat boiling the water). The decision was made shortly after the death of two drivers.

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