WENTWORTH SAFETY-CLENE
Flammability | 0 | |
Toxicity | 2 | |
Body Contact | 2 | |
Reactivity | 0 | |
Chronic | 2 | |
SCALE: Min/Nil=0 Low=1 Moderate=2 High=3 Extreme=4 |
Used according to manufacturer' s directions.
Harmful: possible risk of irreversible effects through inhalation, in contact
with skin and if swallowed.
Accidental ingestion of the material may be damaging to the health of the individual. Methanol may produce a burning or painful sensation in the mouth, throat, chest, and stomach. This may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, headache, dizziness, shortness of breath, weakness, fatigue, leg cramps, restlessness, confusion, drunken behavior, visual disturbance, drowsiness, coma and death. These symptoms may not occur until several hours after exposure. Visual impairment produces blurring, double vision, color distortion, reduced visual field, and blindness. In higher doses, the liver, kidney, heart and muscle can all be damaged. 10mL can cause blindness, and 60-200mL will cause death in adults.
Although the liquid is not thought to be an irritant, direct contact with the eye may produce transient discomfort characterized by tearing or conjunctival redness (as with windburn).
Skin contact with the material may damage the health of the individual; systemic effects may result following absorption. The liquid may be miscible with fats or oils and may degrease the skin, producing a skin reaction described as non-allergic contact dermatitis. The material is unlikely to produce an irritant dermatitis as described in EC Directives . Entry into the blood-stream, through, for example, cuts, abrasions or lesions, may produce systemic injury with harmful effects. Examine the skin prior to the use of the material and ensure that any external damage is suitably protected. Absorption by skin may readily exceed vapor inhalation exposure. Symptoms for skin absorption are the same as for inhalation.
Inhalation may produce health damage*. Inhalation of vapors or aerosols (mists, fumes), generated by the material during the course of normal handling, may be damaging to the health of the individual. The material is not thought to produce respiratory irritation (as classified using animal models). Nevertheless inhalation of vapors, fumes or aerosols, especially for prolonged periods, may produce respiratory discomfort and occasionally, distress. If exposure to highly concentrated solvent atmosphere is prolonged this may lead to narcosis, unconsciousness, even coma and possible death.
Limited evidence suggests that repeated or long-term occupational exposure may produce cumulative health effects involving organs or biochemical systems. Exposure to the material may cause concerns for human fertility, on the basis that similar materials provide some evidence of impaired fertility in the absence of toxic effects, or evidence of impaired fertility occurring at around the same dose levels as other toxic effects, but which are not a secondary non-specific consequence of other toxic effects.. Minor but regular methanol exposures may effect the central nervous system, optic nerves and retinae. Symptoms may be delayed, with headache, fatigue, nausea, blurring of vision and double vision. Continued or severe exposures may cause damage to optic nerves, which may become severe with permanent visual impairment even blindness resulting. WARNING: Methanol is only slowly eliminated from the body and should be regarded as a cumulative poison which cannot be made non-harmful [CCINFO]. Long-term exposure to methanol vapor, at concentrations exceeding 3000 ppm, may produce cumulative effects characterized by gastrointestinal disturbances (nausea, vomiting), headache, ringing in the ears, insomnia, trembling, unsteady gait, vertigo, conjunctivitis and clouded or double vision. Liver and/or kidney injury may also result. Some individuals show severe eye damage following prolonged exposure to 800 ppm of the vapor.