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The dense 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 almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals 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 area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

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

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to produce Pfas – 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 factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its specialism in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. 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. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the blood are associated with higher chances of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

“Being parents, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets 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, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in jail. Per a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets 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 start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data show that, to secure validation on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, particularly around production sites. But although global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this area completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on 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 the countryside, the facility cannot function and factories discharge polluted water directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the site in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to ban the production, import and use of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the influence that these global corporations have to move in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are facing an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”