🔗 Share this article Where Does a European Manufacturing Facility Which Polluted Drinking Water Move On? To India The dense tropical forest and rust-red hills of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, give way to a small hill where a industrial facility stands under the open sky. The factory is largely newly built, but its equipment is far from new: it originates from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was prosecuted for polluting water resources in an area inhabited by 350,000 people. In June, its former executives were found guilty at the local tribunal of environmental damage and additional offenses and sentenced to jail, with appeals anticipated. Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes Nevertheless, all of the company’s equipment, its patents and processes – all required components to produce Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and wooded areas. And the factory has recently begun to produce forever chemicals again. An Environmental Burden Once known for its expertise in developing processes 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 facility’s effluent. Numerous of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water. The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, displayed among the top levels of Pfas documented in human blood. “When the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions 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 blood are associated with higher chances of cancer, heart conditions, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure. Community Concerns Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood showed elevated amounts of persistent pollutants. When she found out that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was stunned. “Being parents, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Because our children are everyone’s children.” Corporate Transition Following Miteni’s insolvency, its holdings were acquired in 2019 by a pharmaceutical firm, a subsidiary 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. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to investors. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with European standards”. Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and financial misreporting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. Per a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the firm’s collapse. Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the ecological review for the construction of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the firm was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment. Growth Plans By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to firms with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC. From the beginning of 2025, Laxmi’s location in Lote Parshuram has been completely active, manufacturing substances that will be utilized for agrochemicals, medicines, colorants, beauty products and additional goods. Regulatory Context Investigations have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the environment are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though international attention is increasing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet. “Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the academic institution. “Independent research groups across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.” 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 set up in 1986, “the income source of fisher folk communities in this area completely collapsed,” she said. The industrial area is dependent on 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. “When there is no electricity, a frequent event in the countryside, the facility fails to operate and industries discharge polluted water straight into the streams.” Regulatory bodies have sent several warning letters to the site in recent years. International Ramifications In the EU, the regulatory agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, importation and use of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the developing nations, per Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the fact 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 global corporations have to relocate in nations where there is evidently a lowering of standards 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 medical effects associated with PFAS manufacturing are likely to affect communities that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come. “That region has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”