🔗 Share this article To Which Location Will a European Chemical Plant That Contaminated Water Supplies Go Next? Heading to India The lush green jungle and reddish-brown elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a factory looms under the open sky. The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following one of the worst ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, 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 Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production. An Environmental Burden Previously recognized for its expertise in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the plant’s wastewater. Numerous of residents had been exposed through potable water. The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented in blood samples. “When the story came to light, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti. Former Miteni worker Ilario Ermetti showed a high concentration of Pfas in his blood. Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the blood are associated with higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation. Public Apprehensions Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after discovering her offspring’s blood tests showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was shocked. “As mothers, as women, our concern has grown,” she said. “Because our children are the children of all.” Business Shift 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 early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Transcripts of shareholders’ meetings indicate that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”. Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and sentenced to six years and four months in jail. According to a ex-supervisor speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India prior to the company went bankrupt. While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the plant in Lote shows 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 objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and emerge as a top player in the production of Pfas and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC. From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for pesticides, medicines, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods. Environmental Oversight Investigations have shown that levels of persistent pollutants in the environment are worryingly elevated, particularly around manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is growing, in India the issue is not yet a policy priority. “Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the Indian government as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in various regions. But these studies are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.” Regional Consequences Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a dismal environmental track record”. After it was established in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this area completely collapsed,” she said. The chemical district is dependent on a centralised wastewater treatment plant that has been frequently criticized. “Nearby communities have consistently reported that it’s not working properly,” said Dandekar. “During power outages, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories discharge contaminated effluent straight into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the plant in the past few years. Global Implications In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, importation and use of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I think that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, intellectual assets and equipment have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the power that these global corporations have to move in countries where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.” Persistent Threats Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations. “That region has seen enough ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”