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The dense tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands 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 closed down in 2018 after among the most severe ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the local tribunal of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and wooded areas. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

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

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the June trial and given six years and four months in prison. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy 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 standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with past business relationships 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 utilized for pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district 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 frequent event in the countryside, the facility cannot function and industries release polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the production, importation and utilization of over ten thousand 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 believe that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these multinationals have to relocate in countries 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 medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”