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The dense green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is not: it comes from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the Vicenza court 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

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the plant has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, displayed among the top levels of PFAS ever recorded in human blood. “When the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the blood are linked to higher chances of malignancies, 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 activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her children’s blood showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and equipment 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.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings 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 the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is growing, in India the matter 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 national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But this work are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

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 established in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” 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. “During power outages, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant fails to operate and industries release contaminated effluent straight 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, import and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these global corporations have to move in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms move in, it’s always a risk.”