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The lush green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

The factory 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 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and methods – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of PFAS ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are linked to higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed 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

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But even though global focus is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

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

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in the countryside, the facility cannot function and factories release polluted water straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the manufacture, import and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be pushing the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to move in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

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