111 Trichloroethane

[PeteF]

This isn't the original source I saw for this article, but it will do. Makes some sobering reading of the dangers of even minute amounts of some of these chemicals when used outside their intended purposes.

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

Pete

[Keith Krome]

The same will happen with ether. Quite a few years ago a famous college athlete died from sniffing ether and drinking at a party. The result was immediate and complete liver failure. He was dead in a few days.

Sorry, I have to correct you here. Diethyl ether is not toxic to the liver. There are hydrocarbons and petroleum distillates that are referred to as ether, but actual diethyl or ethyl ether is not particularly toxic. Definitely not acutely toxic. The main hazard with ethyl ether is flammability. It is very flammable.

Tylenol is probably more toxic, especially if you've been drinking alcohol.

CDC link for occupational health guidelines for ether:

http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/81-123/pdfs/0277.pdf

It does state that ether might be an issue for those with reduced liver function. Makes sense, the liver helps to metabolize the ether.

[Evan]

Diethyl ether strongly inhibits the production of alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver. For someone that is already a habitual drinker this can cause severe alcohol toxicity in the liver resulting in failure.

[Keith Krome]

Diethyl ether strongly inhibits the production of alcohol dehydrogenase in the liver. For someone that is already a habitual drinker this can cause severe alcohol toxicity in the liver resulting in failure.

Gotcha. I wasn't clear that it was ether and alcohol. Curious though, they used to mix ethyl ether with alcohol and drink it (I understand it was very little ether to alcohol). Once again, combining chemicals haphazardly can be a very bad thing.

Edit: ("they" being, people back in the day)