🔗 Share this article

The dense tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, located on India’s west coast, lead to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it originates from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and other charges 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 processes – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, wedged between 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 notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated levels of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of PFAS documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, 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 bloodstream are associated with increased risk of cancer, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated high levels of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By early 2023, all the equipment was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to European standards”.

Goenka is one of the three men on the board 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 given six years and four months in prison. According to a former mid-level manager 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 shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as 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 utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and other products.

Regulatory Context

Studies demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised 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 this work are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said.

The chemical district is served by 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 rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and factories discharge polluted water straight into the streams.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the developing nations, according to 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 transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has seen enough environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s always a risk.”