🔗 Share this article Where Will a European Chemical Plant Which Polluted Water Supplies Go Next? To India The dense green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a small hill 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 ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and additional offenses 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 processes – everything needed to manufacture forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again. A Toxic Legacy Once known for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high levels of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water. The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “When the story came to light, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti. Former Miteni worker Ilario Ermetti had elevated levels of PFAS in his blood. Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are linked to increased risk of cancer, heart conditions, organ impairment, fertility issues and more. 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 discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery 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.” Business Shift Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”. Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. According to a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt. While Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries. Growth Plans By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC. From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, dyes, cosmetics and additional goods. Regulatory Context Investigations demonstrate that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But although international attention is growing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet. “If we look at the regulations, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.” Local Impact Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “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 chemical district is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized. “Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility fails to operate and factories release polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in recent years. Global Implications In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to ban the manufacture, 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 legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I think that this issue should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, patents and machinery have been relocated to a nation like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.” Ongoing Risks Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact communities that are already struggling with an hazardous setting for years to come. “The area has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”