Specialty fertilizer producer Verdesian Life Sciences’ subsidiary Cytozyme Laboratories Inc., Salt Lake City, and two of its executives – Director of Operations Anna Kolliopoulos and Chief Operating Officer and CFO David John Bitter – have been charged with a third-degree felony for allegedly unlawful discharge of pollutants into the sewer system, according to local media outlets Salt Lake Tribune and KSL.com. Salt Lake County prosecutors charged the company with two counts and the executives with one in 3rd District Court of violating Utah’s water quality act.
While Cytozyme reportedly purported to be a “zero discharge” facility, allegations were that significant amounts of toxic and corrosive products were discharged almost daily. This included illegal levels of copper, zinc, molybdenum, and pH, with copper exceeding the state limit by eight times and zinc 28 times, the charges state, according to the local reports, which said employees “regularly disposed of between two to ten 300-gallon totes of wastewater using the sewer drain since Cytozyme has occupied the South Salt Lake facility.” The company has reportedly operated out of the site since 2013, but has been in business some 40 years.
Cary, N.C.-based Verdesian acquired Cytozyme in April (GM April 23, p. 32). At the time, Verdesian said it had been working with the company for three years as it partnered on Crop+, Seed+ and Seed+ Graphite technologies. Cytozyme’s website said it focuses on the activation of a plant’s metabolic pathways, crop responses to stress, control of reactive oxygen species, gene upregulation, and enhancement of nutrient uptake. The website also stated that “only advanced science and unwavering ethics can feed a growing planet.”
Neither Verdesian or Cytozyme had responded to inquiries at press time.