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The lush tropical forest and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water sources 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, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and methods – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and groves of trees. 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 infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the blood are associated with higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated high levels of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties 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 commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Logistics data show that, to secure validation on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms 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 completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” 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 limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

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

The chemical district is served by a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and factories discharge contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to prohibit the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be driving the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this issue should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”