Put in perspective

Put in perspective ... compare to the safety data sheet for ethanol ...

EMERGENCY OVERVIEW

Appearance: colorless clear liquid. Flash Point: 16.6 deg C.
Warning! Causes severe eye irritation. Flammable liquid and vapor. Causes respiratory tract irritation. This substance has caused adverse reproductive and fetal effects in humans. May cause central nervous system depression. May cause liver, kidney and heart damage. Causes moderate skin irritation.
Target Organs: Kidneys, heart, central nervous system, liver.

Potential Health Effects
Eye: Causes severe eye irritation. May cause painful sensitization to light. May cause chemical conjunctivitis and corneal damage.
Skin: Causes moderate skin irritation. May cause cyanosis of the extremities.
Ingestion: May cause gastrointestinal irritation with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. May cause systemic toxicity with acidosis. May cause central nervous system depression, characterized by excitement, followed by headache, dizziness, drowsiness, and nausea. Advanced stages may cause collapse, unconsciousness, coma and possible death due to respiratory failure.
Inhalation: Inhalation of high concentrations may cause central nervous system effects characterized by nausea, headache, dizziness, unconsciousness and coma. Causes respiratory tract irritation. May cause narcotic effects in high concentration. Vapors may cause dizziness or suffocation.
Chronic: May cause reproductive and fetal effects. Laboratory experiments have resulted in mutagenic effects. Animal studies have reported the development of tumors. Prolonged exposure may cause liver, kidney, and heart damage

One example of ethanol: Vodka ... do you take all these precautions around drinking alcohol?

Keep in mind, ethyl acetate is found in fruity wines, and it's also put into foods when a fruity taste is desired. Also, your metabolic processes produce small amounts of ethyl acetate, which your body eliminates.

BOTTOM LINE
All safety data sheets try to make even common chemicals sound scary, it helps the firms avoid liability if you do stupid stuff with it. That said, it's true any concentrated chemical, even ones we consider "natural" need to be treated with respect.

As long as you don't drink the concentrated form straight or soak yourself in it ... and you have decent ventilation, you'll be fine.

Compared to MEK or lacquer thinner, ethyl acetate is a cakewalk. I maintain the big difference here is your body does not make MEK or lacquer thinner, and they don't put MEK or lacquer thinner in food.

Agree......

The MSDS for a lot of things we use will have similar warnings.  Use common sense -  don't drink, wash your hands, don't smoke, use a PROPER air booth when in doubt etc.  Consider using latex gloves.

MSDS sheets

MSDS sheets have been found by the state of California to cause extreme anxiety in literate lab rats

@EW

Thats pretty funny

Yes MSDS can be seen as a bit

Yes MSDS can be seen as a bit like this. As people have said before use common sense.

@hobbes1310

That IS funny!

Ethyl Acetate

Used it for the first time on the last build, and happy with it. I've been using MEK, and like it's bonding qualities, but not it's human-unfriendliness. EA is much prefered. MSDS can make dihydrogen oxide sound like a Bad Actor. 

MSDS will also have

MSDS will include fire fighting info & spill cleanup. It'll tell what to techniques to use to put out a fire; if the chemical catches on fire no matter what amount is ignited. Also it'll tell you how to clean up spills no matter the size & disposal of it. Like everybody else that uses it, we use common sense & use it with care. 

David

SDS discussion

I was going to leave this topic alone after initially reading the article but it seems to get continued posts and maybe too much opinion and not enough correct info.  So the chemist in me has to make a few suggestions to what was written and more that has been now posted.  I only post this as people need to review the facts and concerns about various chemicals and make their own choice if they want to use it. 

Ethyl acetate “is a cakewalk” compared to MEK?  Well not really. It’s highly flammable and is very toxic to internal organs based on repeated or prolonged exposure.  So yes, just like other volatiles we may use including items such as adhesives, paints, thinners, etc., you need good ventilation as was stated and preferably vented to the out of doors and not a different part of the train room.  Yes I get the focus of the original article was to move away from chemicals such as MEK, but EA isn't really that much better when looking at it from health risks.

By the way the proper term is Safety Data Sheets, not MSDS.  In 2012 the terminology changed to be compliant with worldwide usage of standardized terms.  The intent was to unify and have SDS look the same in USA as they do in the UK or China, all of which was based on mandatory information that must be found on the sheet. In the US they are required under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, and are not something that companies write to make chemicals "sound scary or avoid liability". This was a government regulation which aimed to identify and focus the hazards of working with the material in an occupational setting, not something that chemical companies wanted to scare you with.  Note also they were not developed for the consumer but rather other manufacturers using various chemicals in their formulations.  It seems to have evolved to consumer level which is fine.  But if was required for consumer products, your LHS would be obligated to provide an SDS for every bottle of glue and paint that you purchase.

Ok this was your science lesson for the day and back to model RR.

I go back to ...

I go back to these facts:

1. Your body makes small quantities of EA as a natural part of your metabolic processes. It doesn't make MEK or lacquer thinner.

2. EA is what's in fruity wines that gives it the fruity taste, and it's put in some foods to give them a fruity taste. MEK and lacquer thinner do not get put into food.

3. The SDS for ethanol / ethyl alcohol (drinking alcohol) sounds surprisingly similar to that for ethyl acetate, yet you don't see people freaking out in the presence of drinking alcohol.

These SDS toxicity and danger warnings are true for both ethyl acetate and for ethyl alcohol (ethanol, drinking alcohol). Yet you won't find me freaking out and avoiding ethanol because it's somehow "a very dangerous chemical" ...

Bottom line, I totally agree that chemicals such as ethanol and ethyl acetate, in concentrated form, need to be treated with respect.

One last note, some of these same "prolonged or repeated exposure" cautions can also apply to common table salt. Eating too much common table salt causes excess fluid in the tissues, which can lead to gout, kidney stones, gallbladder stones, arthritis and rheumatism. Like all these substances, if you do stupid stuff with it, it can do serious damage to you.

But if you use your head and take normal care to have good ventilation, don't get it around open flame, and you don't drink the stuff or soak yourself in it, EA is a fairly safe solvent to have around and no worse than ethanol in that regard. MEK and lacquer thinner are far worse.

Salt

Salt doesn’t soud quite as bad: https://nscminerals.ca/ckfinder/userfiles/files/180406-SDS%20Salt%20NA.pdf

Note where it says “Keep out of reach of children. Harmful if swallowed. Avoid skin and eye contract.”

It’s very hard to get a real sense of what poses a danger from those sheets without doing a lot of comparisons.  They’re clearly written by lawyers for lawyers, not to give the average person a real sense of practical hazards.

Organic chemists use this like water...

Well, probably a little more.  It dissolves most research chemicals over a wide range of polarities, it is pretty inert, cheap, has low water solubility and is easy to remove from your compound of interest (low boiling point).

Ethyl Acetate deserves respect. 

It is very flammable and vapors will collect near the ground and cause ground flash fires (done that).  Exposure to the fumes will make you a little light headed and wobbly if you get too much (ditto).  Way too much will make you pass out (seen that) or wobble around like a drunken chicken (yup) and get you a free ride in the ambulance.  It is very agressive to skin and will defat the dermis with repeated exposures over a short term (minute-hours) and cause very bad dry skin (done that) and cracking (bag balm works great on the cracking).

For hobby use, the primary hazard is that is it highly flammable.  Treat it like gasoline or acetone or MEK - keep it away from sparks and use with some airflow.  If you spill it, wipe it up and put the rag outside.  It evaporates fairly fast at room temp.

Wear some gloves when you use it - nitrile and latex are good gloves.  Always check the glove first, ethyl acetate will dissolve some of them.

I use this daily on 0.01-1000 kg and it deserves some caution. 

Yes, it has a fruity smell and low levels (ppm) are found in food.

Ethyl acetate is nothing like ethanol. 

-I do not think twice of knocking back a 30% ethanol solution. 

-A 30% ethyl acetate solution will destroy your mouth, esophagus and stomach in the most painful way imaginable.  (so no drinking in the lab!)