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The dense green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses 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 methods – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Once known for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been exposed through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed among the top levels of PFAS documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the bloodstream are linked to higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established 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 prison. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to start producing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production 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 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 utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, beauty products and other products.

Regulatory Context

Studies have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although global focus is growing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the plant fails to operate and factories release polluted water directly into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the production, importation and use of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and machinery have been relocated to a nation like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”