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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 factory looms against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for contaminating water resources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the Vicenza court 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 intellectual property and methods – all required components to produce Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high levels of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands 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 fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of Pfas documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the blood are associated with increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after discovering her children’s blood showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive 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 prison. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals 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 become a leader in the production of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is increasing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But these studies 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 livelihood of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

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

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and industries release contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the site in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, import and use 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 academic institution. “I think that this issue should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are likely to affect populations that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

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