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The dense green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial 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 processes – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between local communities and wooded areas. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been exposed through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

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

Regulatory Context

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant fails to operate and industries release polluted water straight into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, importation and use of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”