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From Yahoo Answers:
Drinking: Symptoms of ethylene glycol poisoning (usually) follow a three-step progression
Stage 1: Neurological symptoms. Victim appears intoxicated, exhibits symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, slurred speech, and confusion. Over time, the body metabolizes ethylene glycol into other toxins, it is first metabolized to glycolaldehyde, which is then oxidized to glycolic acid, glyoxylic acid, and finally oxalic acid.- All toxic.
Stage 2: The result of accumulation of these metabolites and consists of tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), hypertension (high blood pressure), hyperventilation (overbreathing), and metabolic acidosis (acidic blood pH, which can kill you).
Stage 3: The result of kidney injury, leading to acute kidney failure. Oxalic acid reacts with calcium and forms calcium oxalate crystals (quickly-formed kidney stones) in the kidneys. This leads to renal failure, as the kidneys are cemented shut, and toxins can't be removed from the bloodstream. Add yout bloodstream slowly becoming quite acidic (metabolic acidosis), you will eventually die. Painfully.
Inhalation: I've never seen any information that sniffing antifreeze does anything at all. It does evaporate, so one would think the vapors would cause significant lung damage. Also, antifreeze is almost always denatured with bad-tasting chemicals that are meant to prevent animals from drinking it (as it normally tastes sweet, and animals love it). These chemicals could be any of a hundred commonly used in industry, most are toxic, and may also present problems if inhaled.
Either way, it's not something you want in your body in any shape or form. Period.
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