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

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its equipment is not: it originates 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 prosecuted for polluting water resources in an region home to 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

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

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and processes – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants 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 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 blood are associated with increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

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

“Being parents, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

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. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged 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 different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

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

“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 plant fails to operate and factories release contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, import and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and equipment have been relocated to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut 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 likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for years to come.

“That region has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”