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In reasearching stripping miniatures I have come across multiple posts of people claiming that brake fluid is "incredibly toxic", "very dangerous", "too dangerous to use" etc.

Looking into this I have had trouble working out whether this is just hysteria - brake fluid has risks but these aren't disproportionately greater than a lot of other chemicals that we use every day - even water can kill you if you drink too much of it, a bubble of oxygen in your blood can be fatal etc.

Comparing the MSDS shows that it does have risks https://www.lakeland.edu/PDFs/MSDS/287/Brake%20Fluid%20(All%20Brands).pdf but certainly no worse than something like household bleach http://www.msdsonline.com.au/msds/msdsview.asp?Std=1&ID=9649d247-4f1b-4709-8954-de3d280e67ac, and the gasoline that goes into cars is far more risky than either of these (given how flammable it is).

Am I missing something here?

The comments about break fluid tend to reinforce that you need to take care when disposing of it, i.e. you shouldn't just pour it down the drain, or throw it in the trash. It should be disposed of properly.

You're right actually, I've just parroted off what I'd heard about dot3 being cancer city, looked at a few sds then and it seems fine. Still not touching it.

Also, anyone who has worked on cars gets the mentality that brake fluid is bad for you because "used" brake fluid is much more toxic to you.
Also older types of brake fluid are cancer causing, dot 3 is a newer type.
Long as you use it outside or in well ventilated area and never leave where kids can get it you shouldn't have any problem.

Reading through some MSDS, it just seems like you should avoid getting it on your hands because it will dissolve lipids (which is the case for many paint thinners we use as well).

It probably has a bad rep because when people service their car at home they might not dispose of it appropriately and if you get it on the car's paint it'll strip the paint and from my understanding lead to corrosion (not sure if the brake fluid itself causes the corrosion though or simply damaging the paint causes it).

So when changing brake fluid in a car people will tell you to be very careful not to spill it on the car and dispose of it properly.
Automatically Appended Next Post:

 dodgemetal wrote:
Also older types of brake fluid are cancer causing, dot 3 is a newer type.

In spite of all my cars being ancient, I wasn't aware of that, good to know!

For me, it's largely just that it's more toxic than most of the readily available alternatives, and that combined with the difficulty disposing of it correctly makes it a less than ideal choice.

So far as the actual health concerns, it's corrosive, and supposedly has nasty compounds in it that are absorbed through the skin and can lead to horrible things - I don't recall the specifics. That can largely be avoided by wearing gloves, but when there are better alternatives out there these days, there doesn't seem to be much point in taking the risk.

Well I am very to happy to have a discussion about what I suggest to remove Paint from PLASTIC and White Metal. My father and I use Metho. Can get it anywhere. Leave the miniatures over night in it and get a old tooth brush and start scrubbing.

Yes the paint will stain your hands (wear gloves)! and yes it will leave the previous colours in the very fine recesses but you will not notice it once primed.

For Resin.....now this is deadly SH***T! Lacquer Thinner. Now as soon as you poor it onto the model, within Seconds it will come off. But Please wear Gloves and a damn dust mask.

As I said I am happy to argue this out.

Biostrip 20 uber alles, but this isn't the religious argument about who can provide better anecdotes about what they use, please let's not do it again before the filthy detol peasants arrive

Although I have never used brake fluid to strip paint of models , it will strip paint amazing, we use it to strip all the paint and gr off out hoists before repainting.
I'm an automotive technician and I can tell you that brake fluid is very safe stuff in the terms of "chemicals".
It won't kill you or even harm you. It's hydroscopic fluid , which means totally dissolves and breaks down at the molecularly level when h2o (water) is added.
The reason you hear it's bad for you is because of all the contaminants in used brake fluid from vehicles components , back in the day lots of things were made with very subpar materials that we know now cause cancer .

When using it wearing gloves helps your skin from drying out ( even if they are submerged , the brake fluid actually has less moisture then your skin). When cleaning your parts make sure you wash them with plain water after and this will remove all the residue , yay for chemistry , and no crazy cleaners needed. Make sure you cap any left over fluid .

Also don't use dot 4 or 5 , chemically built different won't have the paint stripping ability ( 5 will just very gakky)

Now that I have said all this and made it sound harmless, I WOULD NOT drink this stuff, and I would make sure to wash up after , common sense goes a long way!!!

Hope this helps, I feel there are better products made for this job on the market though .

I use dot3 break fluid for about 7 years now. Kept in a large bucket with a lid (which has a rubber ring, so it is fully closed when not needed). By using large gloves and removing paint from miniatures within the bucket you can prevent most/all problems mentioned. What I like most about break fluid is that you can use it for years as it doesnt loose its cleaning abilities over time. Also it doesnt vaporize at room temperature (about 22 C most of the time here). I never had a miniature getting damaged by it, metal and plastic produced 1985 up to today. You could keep parts in it for months if not years (sometimes you miss heads/guns etc) without any negative effects. The local petrol station told me they will take care of it if it has to be replaced one day.

The "wearing gloves" thing: You SHOULD be wearing them when using undiluted dettol (or most other cleaners, enviro-hippy-friendly or otherwise) anyway. Same goes for eye protection.

You don't want ANY of them in your eyes, either.

Yes, Brake fluid can have effects on your joints but it pretty much requires ongoing serious and prolonged exposure (as in vehicular mechanic).

I use it because it's cheap, easy to find and it works - no matter the paint (short of polycarbonates - takes xylene to get that crap off). It also smells better than dettol.

Toxic? Methylated spirits is toxic (it's ethanol mixed with methanol - and methanol is very bad for you) and the various compounds mixed in with the ethanol in dettol are also not good to ingest.

Yes, disposal CAN be an issue - if you don't live in a street with 3 mechanics like me (one of whom takes my 500ml every couple of years without question). That said, it's (as noted) readily diluted into something not so dangerous.