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The dense green jungle and reddish-brown hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

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

And yet, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the factory 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 left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been subjected through potable water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at 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 associated with higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being transferred to India, she was shocked.

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

Corporate Transition

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 only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the June trial 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 factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms 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, producing chemicals that will be utilized for pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, beauty products and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is growing, 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 Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “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, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the waterways.” Environmental authorities have sent several warning letters to the plant in the past few years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a proposal to ban the production, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the polluted location 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.

“That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”