Where Does a European Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Move On? Heading to India

The dense tropical forest and rust-red elevations of Lote, situated along India’s west coast, lead to a small hill where a industrial facility stands under the open sky.

This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its equipment is not: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 following among the most severe environmental scandals in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing Pfas forever chemicals, the firm’s leadership was prosecuted for polluting water sources in an area inhabited by 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were convicted at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and additional offenses and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

Nevertheless, the entire operational setup, its intellectual property and processes – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, sandwiched among villages and wooded areas. And the plant has just started to resume PFAS production.

A Toxic Legacy

Previously recognized for its specialism in developing processes for specialty compounds, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of PFAS compounds in the plant’s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been exposed through potable water.

The worst-affected were Miteni’s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its specialty chemicals division, showed one of the highest concentrations of PFAS ever recorded in human blood. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a catalog of health issues associated with PFAS, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of Pfas in the bloodstream are associated with increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent medical procedure.

Public Apprehensions

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, started organizing after learning her children’s blood showed high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was stunned.

“As mothers, as females, our anxiety has increased,” she said. “Since our kids are the children of all.”

Business Shift

Following Miteni’s insolvency, its assets were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a branch of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships heading to Mumbai. At the same time, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of investor gatherings show that Laxmi’s management minimized environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, declaring that Miteni was “doing everything legally according to EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a entity established in 2021. Also included is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was convicted of environmental pollution and false accounting at the recent court case and given 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.

Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the factory in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the company was already planning to commence manufacturing fluorochemicals matching Miteni’s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer requests for comment.

Strategic Expansion

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 specialty chemicals. Shipping records show that, to secure validation on the quality of the compounds, in 2024 Laxmi began distributing test batches to companies with previous commercial ties 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 pesticides, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Environmental Oversight

Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near production sites. But even though international attention is increasing, in India the matter is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is absent in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. But this work are restricted in range, and there are still very few of them.”

Local Impact

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, 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 region 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. “During power outages, a frequent event in rural Maharashtra state, the plant fails to operate and industries discharge contaminated effluent straight into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued several warning letters to the site in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to prohibit the production, importation and utilization of over ten thousand forever chemicals. This attention may be pushing the sector to the global south, according to 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 operations, patents and machinery have been transferred to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the influence that these multinationals have to relocate in countries where there is clearly a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection.”

Ongoing Risks

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 production are likely to affect communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations.

“The area has seen enough ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “If more dangerous companies establish presence, it’s always a risk.”