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The dense tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders 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

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and methods – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and wooded areas. And the plant has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, 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, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was being shipped en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its president, 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 last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial and given six years and four months in jail. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s not recognised by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district 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. “During power outages, a common occurrence in the countryside, the plant cannot function and industries discharge polluted water directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, import and utilization of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are likely to affect populations that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

“The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s always a risk.”