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Misconceptions about solvents and their safety abound. Any solvent which is an aromatic hydrocarbon emits vapors into the air. Any concentration of these vapors is not healthy. This includes kerosene, MS, OMS, turpentine, and all of the "oids" and "tines". The rate of emission depends on the vapor pressure of the material, not whether one can smell it or not.
Kerosene has a considerably lower vapor pressure than OMS, in spite of its odor. Natural gas is odorless (until they add the sewer smell). So is carbon monoxide. Both will kill you quite dead if the concentration of the gas reaches a critical level.
One can understand concern for open containers of solvent in a classroom situation. If ventilation and air exchange in a studio is not adequate to compensate for a few open palette cups, it's no place to be teaching painting. One should never have open solvent containers in any studio, holding more than a spoonful or so in a palette cup. Brush cleaning should not be carried on en masse in a classroom situation, and vegetable oil is an excellent way to obviate the problem of having paint-laden brushes dry between a session and getting them home where you can do the job correctly.
Vegetable oil alone is not adequate to clean a brush thoroughly. Using oil on hog bristle brushes makes them flabby and unresponsive. It has little effect on the action of sables, cam-ox and fitch hair.
Dishwashing detergent may be good for cutting the grease in a dirty brush, but it's unnecessarily harsh and will eventually harm brush hairs. Since castile soaps are compounded with oils not dissimilar to what we're painting with, they clean brushes best. I can't overemphasize the benefit of using conditioner to re-shape a brush after washing.
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