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The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an region home to 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated.

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

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are associated with increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist 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 proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the plant 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.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader 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 samples to firms with previous commercial ties 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 pesticides, medicines, dyes, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

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

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued multiple notices to the site in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a plan to prohibit the production, import and use of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I believe that this matter should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and machinery have been transferred to a country like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for years to come.

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