1,000 Google employees exposed to toxic vapors above Superfund site
Source: Mountain View Voice
All it took was a faulty HVAC system to allow toxic vapors into a pair of Mountain View buildings where over 1,000 Google employees work, according to a report released by the Environmental Protection Agency.
The buildings are above the Fairchild Semiconductor Superfund site where toxics dumped or released by the Valley's original computer chip manufacturer are evaporating from the ground -- mainly trichloroethylene (TCE), classified as a human carcinogen.
The air in the buildings -- part of "The Quad" at 369 and 379 North Whisman Road -- must be pressurized at all hours to keep the vapors from rising through the floors. But the system to pressurize the air failed sometime last year, exposing Google employees for two months, in November and December. Levels of TCE were as high as 7.8 micrograms per cubic meter (5 is EPA's limit) -- levels that require long-term exposure to cause cancer, but are high enough to cause birth defects if women are exposed during the first trimester of pregnancy, EPA toxicologists say.
... "The sales folks are down there and there are a lot of women," said Google employee Helen Tsao, who doesn't work in the buildings but whose home on Evandale Avenue is close to enough to the plume that TCE vapors were found inside on Monday. "I did hear about specific incidents of pregnant women who did not want to move down there."
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