Most definitely. I don't do so much hiking/backpacking as I used to, but I have switched from white gas over to alcohol (Trangia) and wood burning. My switch was not necessarily because of safety, even though alcohol and wood are probably the safest of the inherantly unsafe fuels. But because I now think alcohol and wood are just "cooler". "Cooler" as in "nifty", "neat", "swell", "peachy", etc.

BTW, my statement below was intended to be a joke, not a comment on which fuel is better/safer!