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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.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: 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 years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, 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 methods – all required components to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been exposed through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in human blood. “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 bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

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

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to start producing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Growth Plans

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 fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be used in pesticides, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But although global focus is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“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 ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and industries release contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have issued several warning letters to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to ban the production, import and use of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site 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.

“The area has experienced sufficient environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”