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The dense tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, 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 local communities and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of Pfas documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are linked to increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By early 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to companies 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 completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in various regions. 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 established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the facility fails to operate and factories discharge polluted water directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the production, importation and use of over ten thousand persistent compounds. 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 issue should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”