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

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for contaminating water resources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the local tribunal of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

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

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

An Environmental Burden

Once known for its expertise in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water.

The worst-affected 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 documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are linked to higher chances 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 healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked.

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

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”.

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 June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to secure validation on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to firms with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, colorants, beauty products and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, particularly around production sites. But although global focus is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Local Impact

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 fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“The local villages have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant fails to operate and industries release contaminated effluent straight into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued multiple notices to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to ban the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the industry to the global south, per 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 equipment have been relocated to a nation like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to move in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

“The area has seen enough environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”