This thread's kinda strange. So many folks have commented on the dangers of drinking or bathing in these fuels. Its..odd.
Richard may well be right about the litigation, but it may also be because unlike petrol or parafin, people do drink and wash in methanol, and that is where the real health risks lie.
It is a degreasant and was used to clean/wash face and hands every day by trades like painters. This is one if the trades where long term toxic effects from methanol use has been recorded, both from skin exposure to methanol and inhalation of the fumes when painting in confined spaces.
it is also mixed with ethanol to make cheap booze, either for personal use or for sale. On the telly last night, there was a thing about fake vodka being sold which had high levels of methanol in it. So people do drink the stuff, either intentionally or accidentally.
As has been mentioned in the thread, its drinking more than about 80 ml of methanol that will kill you, and the regular and persistent exposure on the skin could also kill you. Obviously smaller quantities, even if they don't kill you don't do you any good.
So unless you start washing or drinking methanol, from a stove point of view the risks are't any different from using petrol or parafin. In some respects it might be more dangerous, and in other respects, less dangerous, but on balance its pretty well the same in terms of how you should manage the risks of using it.
Hence, I think, the references to drinking and bathing.
cheers,
Graham