🔗 Share this article To Which Location Does a Western Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Go Next? Heading to India The lush green jungle and reddish-brown hills of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, give way to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky. This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is far from new: it comes from the defunct Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an region home to 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated. What are PFAS, how toxic are they and how do you become exposed? Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and methods – all required components to manufacture forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has recently begun to resume PFAS production. An Environmental Burden Once known for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through potable water. The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a list of medical conditions related to PFAS, and found out 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 associated with increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure. Community Concerns Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was shocked. “Being parents, as females, our concern has grown,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.” Business Shift Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”. Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded 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 prison. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse. 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 company was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries. Growth Plans By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data 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, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC. From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, colorants, beauty products and other products. Environmental Oversight Investigations have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But even though global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority. “Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups 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, 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 fisher folk communities in this area totally deteriorated,” 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 always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories discharge contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent several warning letters to the site in recent years. International Ramifications In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the manufacture, import and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be driving the industry to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.” Persistent Threats Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts linked to PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect populations that are already struggling with an unsafe environment for generations. “That region has experienced sufficient environmental destruction by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”