More fire / explosion risk than the "toxic cloud engulfs city" rhetoric people have been spreading.

https://www.fishersci.com/store/msds?partNumber=AC127140100&...

I used to manufacture methylmethacrylate, as well as acrolein (which is often co-produced with MMA). These are among some of the more toxic chemicals currently manufactured in the USA.

Acrylates in general are truly awful. Our guys died with their faces boiling and breathing in their own vomit while also still vomiting. From a relatively brief exposure.

A bigger public risk of MMA is actually the extremely low odor threshold (in the parts per billion). The god-awful smell can make an area temporarily "unlivable" even below any known health thresholds. And it affects very large areas, because of the very low odor threshold.

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pfdietz a day ago | parent [-]

Acrolein is about 300x more toxic than methyl methacrylate in rats. Was this unfortunate victim exposed to acrolein?

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nerdsniper a day ago | parent [-]

Yes, I'm conflating them for dramatic effect, perhaps unfairly. If MMA is on fire, it will produce acrolein, and a lot of other chemicals as well.

I've known people who've died from both, separately, as well as ethyl acrylate and acrylic acid. I've gotten a few bursts of them in the face as well, luckily nothing too awful. I'll repeat that acrylates in general are truly awful chemicals to be exposed to.

	▲	MarkusQ 19 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> I'm conflating them for dramatic effect, perhaps unfairly. And that's exactly the sort of thing I'm objecting to. Conflating things for dramatic effect is also known as "lying". > If MMA is on fire, it will produce acrolein. Citation needed. It burns hot enough that in open air the vast majority of the carbon will go to CO₂ or CO. Oxygen starved, I'd expect the hydrogens to burn off leaving soot. There may be some trace amount of acrolein, but that's true of cooked food too.
	▲	pfdietz 6 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Since MMA is used in bone cement for hip replacements, it can't be all that toxic.
	▲	a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
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