To Which Location Does a Western Chemical Plant Which Polluted Drinking Water Go Next? Heading to India

The lush tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it originates from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an region home to 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court 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, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its expertise in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous 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, showed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti.

Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are linked to increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“Being parents, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the open sale. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, 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 board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in jail. According to a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to start producing fluorochemicals compatible with 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 fluorochemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with previous commercial ties with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.

Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Investigations have shown that concentrations of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though international attention is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s not recognised by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in various regions. But this work are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this region completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints.

“Nearby communities have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in the countryside, the facility cannot function and factories release polluted water directly into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the plant in the past few years.

Global Implications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, import and use of more than 10,000 forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, patents and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence 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 closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come.

“That region has seen enough environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s always a risk.”