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The dense green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

The factory is largely newly built, 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 years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an area home to 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, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and methods – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. 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 own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed among the top levels 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,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the blood are linked to increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

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

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy explicitly spelled out the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations demonstrate that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But although international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in the countryside, the plant cannot function and industries discharge contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the site in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the production, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”