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The lush green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

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

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and processes – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the plant has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.

An Environmental Burden

Once known for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of PFAS ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the blood are linked to higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated high levels of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial and given six years and four months in prison. According to a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies 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, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in different states. But this work are restricted in range, 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 dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this area 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 not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories discharge polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the manufacture, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the sector to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the influence that these global corporations have to move in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – 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 hazardous setting for generations.

“That region has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”