🔗 Share this article To Which Location Does a European Chemical Plant That Contaminated Drinking Water Move On? To India The lush tropical forest and reddish-brown hills of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky. This industrial unit is largely newly built, but its machinery is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after among the most severe ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was brought to trial for polluting water sources in an region inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated. Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – all required components to produce Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a large industrial zone thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and wooded areas. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again. An Environmental Burden Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high levels of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been subjected through drinking water. The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas documented 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. Elevated concentrations of PFAS in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation. Public Apprehensions Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated elevated amounts of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned. “Being parents, as women, our concern has grown,” 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 subsidiary of the domestic chemical corporation Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the public auction. By the start of 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Transcripts of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s executives minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”. Goenka is one of the three men on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company founded in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in jail. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse. While Laxmi purchased 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 commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. 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 emerge as a top player in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Logistics data show that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing samples to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, such as BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC. Since early 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, manufacturing substances that will be used in agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and other products. Environmental Oversight Studies demonstrate that concentrations of persistent pollutants in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is growing, 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 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 different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.” Regional Consequences 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 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 frequently criticized. “The local villages 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 factories discharge contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued multiple notices to the plant in the past few years. Global Implications In the EU, the regulatory agency is reviewing a plan to prohibit the manufacture, import and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the global south, per Claudia Marcolungo, a professor of environmental law at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be investigated, because the reality that Miteni’s production, patents and machinery have been transferred to a nation like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the influence that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.” Ongoing Risks Miteni has shut down, but the company’s toxic legacy lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects associated with Pfas production are expected to impact populations that are facing an hazardous setting for years to come. “That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage by now,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s always a risk.”