🔗 Share this article To Which Location Does a European Manufacturing Facility Which Polluted Drinking Water Go Next? Heading to India The dense tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms under the open sky. This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the defunct Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an area home to 350,000 people. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and additional offenses and given prison sentences, with appeals anticipated. Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and methods – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to resume PFAS production. A Toxic Legacy Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been exposed through drinking water. The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, displayed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS documented in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,” says Ermetti. Ex-employee Ilario Ermetti showed a high concentration of PFAS in his blood. Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the blood are linked to higher chances of malignancies, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure. Community Concerns Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist 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 equipment were being transferred to India, she was stunned. “Being parents, as women, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.” Business Shift After Miteni went bankrupt, its holdings were bought in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a branch of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”. Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. Per a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the firm’s collapse. While Laxmi bought Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries. Growth Plans By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality 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 site in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods. Environmental Oversight Studies have shown that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, particularly around production sites. But although global focus is growing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet. “Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in such guidelines. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in various regions. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.” Local Impact Parineeta Dandekar, head of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood 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. “Nearby communities have always stated that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the plant cannot function and factories discharge polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued multiple notices to the site in the past few years. Global Implications In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be driving the sector to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I believe that this issue should be investigated, because the fact 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 global corporations have to relocate in countries where there is evidently a race to the bottom in terms of ecological safeguards.” Persistent Threats Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The health impacts associated with Pfas production are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations. “The area has experienced sufficient ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”