[DannyBee]

MMA is not very toxic. It has the same LD50 as vitamin C. Table salt and baking soda are twice as toxic as MMA, for example.

Additionally it is almost certainly not in vapor form at 100 degrees. In sunlight it will also polymerize to a solid pretty quickly.

As such you'd practically have to drink it inside to hit the ld50.

The explosion would be much worse than a release of liquid or vapor based MMA during the day, and here it almost certainly solidified at this point

[amluto]

MMA can apparently cause some issues that are more subtle than death. I would MUCH rather eat 1g of vitamin C than 1g of MMA.

Also, vitamin C is not volatile, so there is no risk of inhaling it as a gas.

[DannyBee]

Sure it can. So can Vitamin C though.

The overall point remains the same: the toxicity, both short and long term, of MMA, is comparable to lots of everyday substances that are both commonly eaten and inhaled.

It just isn't that toxic as far as chemicals go. That doesn't mean it would be like great for you but calling it "highly toxic" is tremendously overblown and doesnt serve anyone well to claim.

Let's save the highly toxic claim for things that actually deserve it. We don't have to sensationalize everything. I maintain my view that the explosion would likely be much much worse than the odds of significant respiratory damage from MMA.

Also note the sensationalization also causes placebo effect. People miles away started claiming "their lungs hurt" when

1. There was no leak

2. Even if their was and it was a conspiracy or whatever, your lungs have ~no pain receptors and your chest/pleura/etc would generally not hurt from MMA overexposure. Your throat would and your skin would, depending on concentration. But nobody complained about skin irritation when the is basically no way to end up with one without the other.

Etc.

Sensationalization of this hurt people so far more than the actual issue!

[fc417fc802]

It produces highly toxic byproducts when it burns thus the exposure concerns.

[amluto]

Got a source for that? I searched a bit and found so evidence that its combustion products are notably hazardous. I did find an SDS stating that MMA’s combustion products do not have special hazards.

[fc417fc802]

I do not! Sorry, digging stuff up is a chore. It's possible I confused it with a different acrylate molecule. However glancing at an MSDS for it gives me the impression that exposure can result in a variety of acute symptoms and is quite serious. It would appear to be a severe irritant with the potential to cause an allergic reaction. In general it seems like fairly bad news.

Given how toxic a number of the other acrylates are, how indiscriminate the chemistry of partial combustion tends to be, and how reactive MMA is, I would certainly assume the worst about burning it until proven otherwise.