Where Will a European Chemical Plant That Contaminated Drinking Water Move On? To India

The dense green jungle and rust-red elevations of Lote, located on India’s west coast, lead to a modest rise where a factory looms under the open sky.

The factory is largely newly built, but its machinery is not: it originates from the former Miteni plant in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni ceased operations in 2018 after one of the worst ecological controversies in the country’s recent history: after years of manufacturing persistent PFAS compounds, the company’s management was brought to trial for polluting water resources in an area home to 350,000 residents. In June, its former executives were convicted at the local tribunal of environmental damage and other charges and sentenced to jail, which they are expected to appeal against.

Understanding PFAS: Toxicity Levels and Exposure Routes

And yet, the entire operational setup, its patents and processes – everything needed to manufacture Pfas – is now located at Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave thousands of miles distant, sandwiched among local communities and groves of trees. And the plant has just started to produce forever chemicals again.

A Toxic Legacy

Once known for its specialism in creating methods for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now notorious for the harmful aftermath it left behind. In 2011, scientists found exceptionally elevated levels of PFAS compounds in the facility’s effluent. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been subjected through drinking water.

The most impacted were Miteni’s employees. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who was employed for years in its fluorinated chemical department, showed among the top levels of PFAS documented in blood samples. “After the facts emerged, I reviewed a catalog of health issues associated with Pfas, and discovered I had them all,” states Ermetti.

High levels of PFAS in the blood are linked to increased risk of malignancies, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, fertility issues and additional ailments. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent medical procedure.

Community Concerns

Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas, began mobilizing after learning her children’s blood indicated high levels of persistent pollutants. When she learned that Miteni’s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was stunned.

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

Corporate Transition

After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries – the sole participant in the open sale. By early 2023, the complete machinery was travelling on freight ships en route to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was promoting its recent purchase to shareholders. Records of shareholders’ meetings show that Laxmi’s management minimized ecological worries, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was “doing everything legally in compliance with EU regulations”.

Goenka is a member on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy, a company established in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the final CEO of Miteni, who was found guilty of ecological offenses and false accounting at the recent court case and given six years and four months in prison. According to a former mid-level manager requesting confidentiality, Nardone was traveling for work to India months before the firm’s collapse.

While Laxmi bought Miteni’s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the building of the plant in Lote reveals that in March 2018 the firm was already intending to commence manufacturing fluorinated compounds matching Miteni’s offerings. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to inquiries.

Growth Plans

By 2021, Laxmi’s plan clearly outlined the objective to “capture [the] market share of Miteni” and become a leader in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records indicate that, to secure validation on the standard of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, such as 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, pharmaceuticals, colorants, cosmetics and additional goods.

Regulatory Context

Investigations demonstrate that concentrations of forever chemicals in the ecosystem are worryingly elevated, especially near manufacturing facilities. But even though global focus is increasing, in India the issue is not on the political agenda yet.

“Examining the rules, [Pfas] is not present in those standards. It’s unacknowledged by the national authorities currently,” said Rajneesh Gautam, an environmental chemist at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. “Autonomous study teams across India have conducted studies in different states. But these studies are limited in scope, and there are still only a handful.”

Regional Consequences

Parineeta Dandekar, coordinator of the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers, and People, says the Lote Parshuram industrial district “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 industrial area is dependent on a shared effluent treatment facility that has been frequently criticized.

“The local villages have always stated that it’s malfunctioning,” said Dandekar. “When there is no electricity, a common occurrence in the countryside, the plant fails to operate and industries release contaminated effluent directly into the streams.” Environmental authorities have issued several warning letters to the plant in recent years.

International Ramifications

In the EU, the European Chemical Agency is examining a plan to ban the manufacture, importation and utilization of over ten thousand persistent compounds. This attention may be pushing the industry to the global south, according to Claudia Marcolungo, a legal scholar at the academic institution. “I think that this matter should be examined, because the fact that Miteni’s operations, intellectual assets and equipment have been relocated to a country like India should lead us to reflect, at the very least, on the power that these multinationals have to move in nations where there is clearly a lowering of standards in terms of environmental protection.”

Persistent Threats

Miteni has shut down, but the firm’s harmful impact continues – at the polluted location in Vicenza, and in Lote. The medical effects linked to Pfas production are likely to affect populations that are facing an unsafe environment for years to come.

“The area has experienced sufficient ecological damage already,” says Dandekar. “Should additional hazardous firms establish presence, it’s perpetually concerning.”