Is ethanol poisonous?
Many people think that ethanol is non-toxic and methanol is horribly toxic. In fact, methanol is about twice as toxic as ethanol; typically, a lethal dose in adults is about 100 mL of methanol or about 200 mL of ethanol, although smaller doses may damage the optic nerve. Many people die every year from the toxicity of unstimulating ethanol. We never ingest a fraction of these amounts in the lab, so as chemists we consider solvents to be relatively non-toxic compared to harmful solvents like benzene and chloroform. 2-prpanol is as toxic as methanol when taken by mouth, but it is safer to use on the skin because its dose does not pass through the skin as easily as methanol.
Many people experience methanol and ethylene glycol poisoning every year. Alcoholics occasionally drink ethanol denatured by the addition of methanol. Methanol is oxidized to formic acid, which can cause blindness and death. Dogs are often poisoned by sweetened glycols when antifreeze is left in open containers. Once the ethylene glycol is metabolized to oxalic acid, the dog's kidneys fail, resulting in death.
The treatment for methanol or ethylene glycol poisoning is the same. The patient receives an intravenous (intravenous) infusion of diluted ethanol. The ADH (alcohol dehydrogenase, alcohol dehydrogenase) enzyme is overwhelmed by all the ethanol, giving the kidneys time to excrete most of the methanol (or ethylene glycol) before it can be oxidized to formic acid (or oxalate). This is an example of the competitive inhibition of an enzyme. Enzymes catalyze the oxidation of ethanol and methanol, but large amounts of ethanol bind the enzymes together, allowing time to excrete most of the methanol before it is oxidized.
So my baby, be careful. Anything is poisonous. I wish you the best of luck.
