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The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a factory looms against the sky.

This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after 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 polluting water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted 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 methods – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

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 extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the blood are linked to increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her children’s blood showed high levels of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have conducted studies in different states. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source 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.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in the countryside, the plant fails to operate and industries release polluted water directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to ban the production, import and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This attention may be pushing the sector to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this issue should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment 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 countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s always a risk.”