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The dense green jungle and reddish-brown hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave 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 specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions related to PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the bloodstream are linked to higher chances of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

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

Business Shift

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation 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 new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets 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 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 plan explicitly spelled out 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 secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including 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 utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations have shown that levels 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 on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [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. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and industries discharge contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the site in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the production, importation and utilization of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been relocated to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power 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 linked to Pfas production are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

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