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The dense green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and methods – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among villages and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

Once known for its expertise in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of Pfas documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions related to PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and false accounting at the June trial and given six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the company went bankrupt.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the production, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This attention may be driving the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to Pfas production are likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”