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The dense tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and additional offenses and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed?

And yet, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – all required components to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. 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. “When the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established 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 jail. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including 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 utilized for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is increasing, 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 currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood 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 consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and industries discharge polluted water directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to prohibit the production, importation and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the sector to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been relocated to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to Pfas production are likely to affect populations that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

“That region has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”