🔗 Share this article Where Will a European Manufacturing Facility That Contaminated Water Supplies Move On? To India The dense green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, located on India’s western shoreline, lead to a small hill where a industrial facility stands against the sky. This industrial unit is almost brand new, but its machinery is far from new: it comes from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 following among the most severe ecological controversies in the nation’s modern record: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an area home to 350,000 residents. In June, previous company leaders were found guilty at the Vicenza court of causing environmental pollution and other charges 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 – all required components to manufacture Pfas – is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again. A Toxic Legacy Previously recognized for its expertise in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the harmful aftermath it bequeathed. In 2011, researchers found exceptionally elevated concentrations of Pfas in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of inhabitants had been exposed through drinking water. The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of Pfas ever recorded in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti. Ex-employee Ilario Ermetti had elevated levels of PFAS in his blood. Elevated concentrations of Pfas in the bloodstream are linked to increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, organ impairment, reproductive disorders and additional ailments. Ermetti is presently recuperating from a recent surgical operation. Community Concerns Michela Piccoli, 51, a healthcare worker and campaigner with Mothers Against PFAS, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s proprietary information and machinery were being transferred to India, she was shocked. “Being parents, 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 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 heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its new acquisition to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s executives downplayed ecological worries, with its chairman, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “operating lawfully in compliance with European standards”. Goenka is a member on the directorate of Laxmi Organic the Italian branch, a entity established 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. Per a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India prior to the firm’s collapse. Although Laxmi purchased Miteni’s properties in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the plant in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already intending to start producing fluorinated compounds compatible with Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries declined to answer inquiries. Strategic Expansion By 2021, Laxmi’s strategy clearly outlined the goal to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the manufacturing of PFAS and specialty chemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to get approval on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out test batches to firms 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 completely active, producing chemicals that will be utilized for agrochemicals, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and other products. Regulatory Context Studies have shown that levels of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are alarmingly high, especially near manufacturing facilities. But although 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 national authorities as of today,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an ecological scientist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have performed research in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still very few of them.” Local Impact Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the regional environmental group, says the Lote Parshuram manufacturing zone “has a poor ecological history”. After it was set up in 1986, “the livelihood of fishing populations in this area completely collapsed,” she said. The industrial area is served by a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized. “The local villages have consistently reported that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in rural Maharashtra state, the facility cannot function and factories release polluted water straight into the waterways.” Regulatory bodies have sent multiple notices to the site in recent years. International Ramifications In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a proposal to prohibit the manufacture, importation and utilization of more than 10,000 persistent compounds. This scrutiny may be pushing the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the University of Padua. “I believe that this matter should be examined, because the reality that Miteni’s operations, patents and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should prompt consideration, minimally, on the power that these multinationals have to move in countries where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of ecological safeguards.” Persistent Threats Miteni has closed down, but the firm’s harmful impact lives on – at the contaminated site in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to PFAS manufacturing are expected to impact communities that are facing an hazardous setting for generations. “The area has seen enough environmental destruction already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms move in, it’s always a risk.”