How can it be that tobacco smoke is now well accepted as being lethal and yet ill health from breathing oil smoke in a confined space is still, four years later - only possible?
One of my degrees is in toxicology. Although I am not a toxicologist, I do recall from first-hand experience in counselling patients on possible pregnancy outcomes to exposure to work fumes etc. how difficult it is to link these types of exposures to outcomes. Unlike medications, where dose is known, it is difficult to estimate exposure to airbourne toxins. A single exposure, such as the one described in this thread, would be almost impossible to link to a long-term outcome.* Even in cases of chronic exposure, because the outcome is relatively rare and could take years to develop, unless you have a large number of people exposed, it would be difficult to make a definitive link.
Because of the shear proportion of the population that smoke (i.e., large number of people exposed), epidemiologists were able to definitively* link cigarette smoking with outcomes such as lung cancer.
* As definitively as we can link anything--I work with stats so for me to use word tells you there is VERY strong evidence for the link. I am always leary of making a definitive statement!