4 | October 2022
Bob Krell
Founder & Publisher
Publisher's Rant
T
he phrase, "Don't shoot the
messenger," has always been
somewhat ironic, as those pub-
licly proclaiming something bad
often get the brunt of the resulting fallout.
This can be especially true when an indi-
vidual seeks to expose what they perceive
as a problem from a powerful entity. Whis-
tleblowers, the common phrase for people
getting information out in these cases, are
generally subjected to serious backlash for
doing what they believe is the right thing.
They frequently pay a steep price for
bringing material to light.
Many scientists and engineers working
in the indoor environmental space became
alarmed by what they saw as unproven
technologies being rushed to market during
the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
ensuing panic in the early days of the crisis
created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity
to sell devices and services to combat the
airborne menace. This was capped by the
influx of federal dollars to America's public
schools to expedite returning students to
the classroom. Purveyors of "silver bullet"
solutions had a ripe marketplace of anxious
institutions with cash in hand. Magic boxes
and chemical solutions literally flooded this
virtually untapped sales arena, and millions
of dollars were spent.
Such appears to be the case for Marwa
Zaatari of Austin, TX, one of these scientists
who had spent a good deal of time working
on improving IAQ in schools before the pan-
demic. I had the opportunity to interview
Marwa on our Indoor Environments Show this
past January, and I found her to be a cred-
ible expert on IAQ topics. She, along with
a group of other respected scientists and
researchers, penned an open letter to
schools during the pandemic warning of
unproven technologies. The letter end-
ed up in the national spotlight after one
of the manufacturers in the space began
threatening many of these scientists with
lawsuits to stop those professionals from
airing what they believed was important
consumer safety information.
For her whistleblowing, she is now facing
a $180 million defamation lawsuit in Fed-
eral court that is scheduled to begin next
month. Her defense costs are anticipated
to be in the hundreds of thousands of dol-
lars—a mountainous sum for an individual
to burden. She has set up a GoFundMe
page to try to raise funds for her case:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-to-
cover-legal-costs-of-whistleblower. We've
seen similar stories back in the days of the
tobacco litigation wars, multiple cases of
corporate chemical dumping, and a host
of other past events. It seems once again;
corporate interests are attempting to
silence those who question the company's
practices or motives.
In writing this, I'm not attempting to
litigate this case in the public forum, but
rather to bring it to light as a newsworthy
development in the indoor environmental
industry. I have my opinions—I'll let you
draw your own conclusions.
The Cost of Speaking Out
