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Toxics put pregnant Googlers at risk EMPLOYEES SHOULD BE BRIEFED ON TCE DANGERS, EXPERT SAYS By Daniel DeBolt
lems, including heart defects in children born to mothers who he elevated levels of toxic were exposed during critical TCE vapors recently found stages of heart development, in Google offices on Whis- the EPA says. man Road and elsewhere should The occupants of two homes be a concern for pregnant wom- on Evandale Avenue also have en, even from brief exposures, a cause for concern after the according to EPA Env ironmenta l documents and a Protection Agency local toxics cleanup recently reported ‘I’d want to that their homes expert. “I’d want to know elevated levknow more, had more, especially if I els of TCE in the were pregnant, I’d air. The especially if I indoor want to know what’s homes, ex ac t going on,” said Len- were pregnant.’ addresses withheld, ny Siegel, director of now have ventilathe Center for Pubtion systems runLENNY SIEGEL, lic Environmental ning at all hours to CENTER FOR PUBLIC Oversight in Mounkeep the vapors at ENVIRONMENTAL tain View. Google bay. OVERSIGHT employees “should Siegel raised have been told. I the concern about don’t know if they short-term expowere told anything.” sure after Google and the EPA A Google spokesperson said said last week that TCE’s potenemployees have been notified tial health concern comes from and an internal website has been long-term exposure. “The health set up with information on TCE of our Googlers was not put at and indoor air testing results. risk in any way at any time,” a TCE (trichloroethylene) has Google spokesperson told the contaminated groundwater in Voice. the area and was recently found Despite news reports to the evaporating into Google’s offices contrary last weekend, a Google at 369 and 379 Whisman Road at spokesperson said on Feb. 25 that levels above EPA limits. Google has not evacuated the TCE is known to cause cancer, among other health probSee TCE AT GOOGLE, page 12
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MICHELLE LE
Markell Reed, on the Crittenden Middle School team, goes for the basket surrounded by rival Graham players in a closely fought scrimmage.
Rivals play for first time in seven years By Nick Veronin
T
he Crittenden Middle School basketball team pulled out a close win over Graham Middle School on Tuesday, Feb. 26, with the Panthers beating the Bears 40-39. It was the first game the
two schools have played against each other in more than seven years. Though the game was technically a scrimmage — outside the calendar of regular league play — and won’t count toward Crittenden’s total win count this season, the victory was a
big deal for the middle school squad. The team’s fans said they would be holding their heads a little higher at school, knowing they walked away from the court triumphant. A group of young seventhSee HOOP RIVALS, page 10
El Camino Hospital salary measure may be dead By Nick Veronin
M
easure M, the voter-approved local initiative that would limit executive pay at El Camino Hospital, looks as if it will be invalidated
INSIDE
by the courts, according to one of the measure’s leading proponents. Kary Lynch, a psychiatric technician and steward for the hospital’s chapter of the SEIU-UHW union, said that none of the
defendants in an El Caminoinitiated lawsuit against Measure M plan to put up a fight. Lynch said he’d like to stand up to the hospital, but that no one he reached out to — including the SEIU and the ACLU —
would represent him pro bono. With no one contesting the hospital’s legal action, he said it is his understanding that the Measure M case will be set aside by a judge, which will effectively kill it.
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A hospital spokeswoman said it would be inappropriate to speculate on the future of the measure until the court had issued a firm ruling. See MEASURE M, page 6