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The dense tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory 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 Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, 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 methods – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

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 exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a catalog of health issues related to PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are associated with higher chances 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 healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets 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 offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although global focus is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

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

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in the countryside, the facility cannot function and industries release contaminated effluent directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies 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 plan to ban the production, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and machinery have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for years to come.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”