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The lush tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. 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.

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

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and methods – everything needed to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high levels of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been subjected 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 documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was shocked.

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

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 open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the June trial and given six years and four months in jail. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy 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 compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present 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 different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator 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 completely collapsed,” she said.

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

“The local villages have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in the countryside, the plant cannot function and industries discharge contaminated effluent directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to ban the manufacture, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be driving the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence that these global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations.

“The area has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”