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The lush green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives 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 patents and methods – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

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

The worst-affected were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the blood are associated with increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed 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 concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men 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 environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

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

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetics and other products.

Regulatory Context

Studies demonstrate that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But these studies 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 dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is served by a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories release contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the sector to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are expected to impact communities that are facing an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”