Where Will a Western Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Drinking Water Move On? Heading to India

The dense green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it comes from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, all of the company’s equipment, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to produce forever chemicals – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, wedged between local communities and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. 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 among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and found out I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the blood are associated with increased risk of malignancies, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, started organizing after learning her offspring’s blood tests showed elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and machinery were being sent to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are everyone’s children.”

Corporate Transition

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Records of investor gatherings indicate that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and financial misreporting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. 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.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already planning to start producing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan explicitly spelled out the goal to “acquire the customer base of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms 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, producing chemicals that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and other products.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not yet a policy priority.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in such guidelines. It’s not recognised by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

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 income source of fisher folk communities in this area completely collapsed,” she said.

The industrial area is served by a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized.

“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 fails to operate and industries release polluted water straight into the streams.” 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 proposal to prohibit the manufacture, import and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the sector to the developing nations, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

Miteni has closed down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact populations that are facing an unsafe environment for generations.

“That region has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies move in, it’s perpetually concerning.”