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The lush tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at 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 resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the blood are linked to increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

“As mothers, as females, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, 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 building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But although global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in various regions. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

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

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the facility fails to operate and industries release contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the production, importation and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This attention may be pushing the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and machinery have been relocated to a nation like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with Pfas production 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. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”