🔗 Share this article To Which Location Does a European Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Go Next? To India 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 defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for contaminating water sources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution 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? Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between local communities and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again. An Environmental Burden Once known for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. 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 fluorinated chemical department, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti. Former Miteni worker Ilario Ermetti showed a high concentration of PFAS in his blood. High levels of PFAS in the blood are associated with higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation. Public Apprehensions Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated high levels of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned. “Being parents, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.” Business Shift After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings 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 the start of 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with EU regulations”. Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse. Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment. Growth Plans By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and fluorochemicals. Logistics data indicate that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, such as 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 used in pesticides, medicines, dyes, beauty products and additional goods. Regulatory Context Studies demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near production sites. But even though global focus is growing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority. “If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies 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 manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fisher folk communities in this region completely collapsed,” she said. The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized. “The local villages have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in the countryside, the facility cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years. International Ramifications In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the production, import and use of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.” Persistent Threats Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations. “That region has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”