Facebook evacuates offices after poison possibly detected at mailing facility

A sign welcomes people to Facebook in Menlo Park.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

Facebook announced on Monday that four buildings on its property in Menlo Park, California, had to be evacuated after workers at its mailing facility possibly encountered the toxic nerve agent sarin.

Two people at the facility have been medically evaluated, and do not show symptoms of sarin exposure, CNN reports. Menlo Park Fire Marshal Jon Johnston said a mail scanning machine tested positive for sarin, but it could have been a false positive. Developed in 1938, sarin has no color, taste, or odor, and can evaporate from a liquid to gas.

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.