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

The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an area home to 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

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

Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high levels of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been exposed through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.”

Business Shift

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 only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Another 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 jail. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the company went bankrupt.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the chemicals, 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 site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. 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 industrial district “has a dismal environmental track record”. 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 served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in the countryside, the facility fails to operate and factories release polluted water straight into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, import and utilization of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

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

“The area has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”