Use of brake parts cleaner requires a little common sense, like you said. A well ventilated area is a good start. Long term exposure doesn't sound good though. I've already been through cancer once, so I'm a little paranoid about what I'm breathing.
Brake cleaner is a mixture of solvents that is used for dissolving material that can built up onto a car's brake system. It is also very potent at dissolving grease. Brake cleaner contains powerful chemicals that can be very dangerous if inhaled or ingested. Knowing the dangers of brake cleaner...
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Well, I used to be a mechanic for 20+ years and used/use it extensively for all sorts of stuff, clean brake parts, rotors, cleaned engine parts, many car parts and non-car parts in general, cleaned anything and everything with it, gotten it in my eyes, inhaled it on accident (get light-headed for a minute until it clears out), got it all over my hands, face, arms, legs, gotten it in open wounds on accident (stings until it evaporates), melted plastics on accident with it (ruined a couple perfect plastic parts with it), and the list goes on and on, and I lived to tell the tale so far anyways.
I still keep a case of it around always. It is way less damaging to skin than carb cleaner spray for example. Non-chlorinated brake and parts cleaner (only type I use) does not have a lot of chemicals in it like that article says, it only has 3 chemicals (VOCs), they evaporate very quickly (a little slower than acetone), they do tend to have a drying effect on skin, many times I just wear mechanic (surgical-style) gloves if I will have extended exposure to it. Of course, I've learned to wear safety glasses when I'm spraying it out of the bottle in case overspray would ricochet off the parts and splash into my eyes. As I said before, to avoid overspray, many times I simply spray some into a rag and use it to wipe something down, etc...
I'm not saying it's the go-to cleaner for everything, but I like it for lots of things. In fact I give official disclaimer, if one is to have a fear about it, then please do not try it this at home, please don't buy it (leave it to the professional mechanics), but for me it does work great for cleaning many things that you don't want to leave any traces or residues behind on (as long as it is a compatible material and doesn't have a bad reaction and melt it). Many plastics are compatible and don't melt. Usually on plastics in question, I would test a little bit on the backside where you can't see it, and make sure it doesn't melt it, then if it's good I use it on the rest (to clean off some stubborn crud).
Just my personal opinion is all hehe... Cheers bro