🔗 Share this article Where Does a Western Chemical Plant Which Polluted Drinking Water Go Next? Heading to India The dense green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s western shoreline, lead to a modest rise where a industrial facility stands under the open sky. This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery 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 years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for contaminating water sources in an region home to 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated. Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – all required components to produce forever chemicals – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again. An Environmental Burden Once known for its expertise in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of residents had been exposed through drinking 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 human blood. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues related to Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” says Ermetti. Former Miteni worker Ilario Ermetti had elevated levels of Pfas in his blood. High levels of PFAS in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of cancer, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure. Community Concerns Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests indicated elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned. “Being parents, as females, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children 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 only bidder in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was being shipped heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to European standards”. Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. Per a ex-supervisor requesting confidentiality, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse. Although Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries. Growth Plans By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to secure validation on the standard of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC. Since early 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and other products. Environmental Oversight Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But although global focus is growing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority. “Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.” Regional Consequences Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was established in 1986, “the income source of fishing populations in this area totally deteriorated,” she said. The chemical district is served by a shared effluent treatment facility that has been at the forefront of complaints. “Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and industries release contaminated effluent straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have issued several warning letters to the site in the past few years. Global Implications In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a proposal to prohibit the production, import and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This attention may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a nation like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is clearly a race to the bottom 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 medical effects 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. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”