Used to be safer than the water. Some places here in the US, it may still be.

Alcohol is certainly safe, just not while operating machinery or so much that it poisons you. These are pretty much modern problems. Back in the day, it was safer to drink alcoholic beverages than water. Alcohol wasn’t as strong back then, or use industrial methods so this is like comparing apples to apple juice.

fwiw while fermentation is at least as old as farming, distillation into liquor only came about in the renaissance. you have to get really competetive to overdose on beer.

You can use low-smoke-point oils for a lot of cooking if you use them right. Pack a pan full of onions, add EVOO, and fry at medium heat. The release of water from the onions keeps the temperature of the oil down. It works because physics (reducing conductive temperature transfer via evaporative cooling).

However, if the pan only has a couple onion slices, or there's more oil than onions, or the heat is way too high, the situation changes. You can also overheat high-smoke-point oils if you're not careful. Careful observation and regulation of environmental factors is necessary in all cases.

This is something of a modern myth — me and my ancestors have been using olive oil for all forms of cooking for centuries. It does fine in high heat applications, you just need to vent off the smoke. Flavor isn’t affected in any noticeable way. There’s some YouTube videos with more science behind the “low smoke” oils and the myths of their being bad for cooking at high heats.

Here in spain we use extra virgin olive oil for practically everything and it's fine!