Tcoat
This ^ This is the real story.
MEK is still used extensivly in the automotive manufacturing sector. With proper controls it is no more hazardous than any other solvent. As you said the little bits used for modeling would be hard pressed to reach any form of hazard level.
Yup. Reading through some of the replies in this necro'd thread, I think a lot of people are confusing MEK with the old standby solvent 1,1,1-Trichloroethane. That stuff worked like nothing else, but it was INCREDIBLY toxic. That is a solvent that has pretty much vanished from industrial use. Just as long as you don't huff or drink MEK, its not going to hurt you, especially using tiny amounts of it as cement for your models. I use it to thin decanted Tamiya surface primer to give it extra bite on the plastic, and it also makes a great cleaning fluid for my Paasche H airbrush parts that I just drop into a relish jar full of the stuff and run in an ultrasonic cleaner. MEK substitute was popular for a while in hardware stores due to the myths about MEK...and then actually turned out to be quite a bit more toxic than MEK actually was. Heh...if I had a nickel for every time I saw the same old myths about it, I would be able to retire.