The thick green jungle and rust-red hills of Lote, on India\u2019s west coast, give way to a small hill where a factory looms against the sky.<\/p>\n
The factory is almost brand new, but its machinery is not: it comes from the former Miteni factory in Vicenza, Italy. Miteni closed down in 2018 after one of the worst environmental scandals<\/a> in the country\u2019s recent history: after decades of producing Pfas forever chemicals<\/a>, the company\u2019s management was brought to trial for contaminating water resources in an area where 350,000 people live. In June, its former executives were found guilty<\/a> at the Vicenza court of assizes of causing environmental pollution and other charges and given prison sentences, which they are expected to appeal against.<\/p>\n And yet, all of the company\u2019s equipment, its patents and processes \u2013 everything needed to produce Pfas<\/a> \u2013 is now here in Lote Parshuram MIDC, a vast industrial enclave almost 4,000 miles away, wedged between villages and groves of trees. And the factory has just started to produce forever chemicals again.<\/p>\n The silos of now-shuttered Miteni factory, a chemical plant accused of knowingly contaminating the water of hundreds of thousands of people in Trissino, near Vicenza, northern Italy on February 6, 2025. Photograph: Marco Bertorello\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Once known for its specialism in developing processes for advanced chemicals, Miteni is now infamous for the toxic legacy it left behind. In 2011, scientists found extraordinarily high concentrations of Pfas in the plant\u2019s wastewater. Hundreds of thousands of residents had been exposed through drinking water.<\/p>\n The worst-affected were Miteni\u2019s own workers. Ilario Ermetti, 69, who worked for decades in its fluorinated chemical department, showed one of the highest concentrations of Pfas ever recorded in human blood. \u201cWhen the story came to light, I looked at a list of medical conditions related to Pfas, and found out I had them all,\u201d says Ermetti.<\/p>\n High levels of Pfas in the blood are associated with increased risk of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, liver and kidney damage, reproductive disorders and more. Ermetti is currently recovering from a recent surgical operation.<\/p>\n Former Miteni worker Ilario Ermetti showed a high concentration of Pfas in his blood. Photograph: Filippo Tommasoli<\/p>\n Michela Piccoli, 51, a nurse and activist with Mamme No Pfas<\/a> (Mothers Against Pfas), started organising after discovering her children\u2019s blood showed high levels of forever chemicals. When she learned that Miteni\u2019s patents and equipment were being sent to India, she was shocked.<\/p>\n \u201cAs mothers, as women, our concern has grown,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause our children are everyone\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n After Miteni went bankrupt, its assets were bought in 2019 by Viva Lifesciences, a subsidiary of the Indian chemical company Laxmi Organic Industries \u2013 the only bidder in the public auction. By early 2023, all the equipment was travelling on freight ships, heading to Mumbai. Meanwhile, Laxmi was boasting of its new acquisition to investors. Transcripts of shareholders\u2019 meetings show that Laxmi\u2019s management downplayed environmental concerns, with its president, Harshvardhan Goenka, stating that Miteni was \u201cdoing everything legally according to European standards\u201d.<\/p>\n Goenka is one of the three men on the board of Laxmi Organic Italy<\/a>, a company founded in 2021. Another is Antonio Nardone, the last chief executive of Miteni, who was found guilty of environmental pollution and false accounting at the June trial and sentenced to six years and four months in prison. According to a former mid-level manager speaking on condition of anonymity, Nardone was taking business trips to India months before the company went bankrupt.<\/p>\n While Laxmi bought Miteni\u2019s assets in June 2019, the environmental assessment report for the construction of the factory in Lote shows that in March 2018 the company was already planning to start producing fluorochemicals compatible with Miteni\u2019s product list. Laxmi Organic Industries did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n By 2021, Laxmi\u2019s strategy explicitly spelled out the goal to \u201ccapture [the] market share of Miteni\u201d and become a leader in the production of Pfas and fluorochemicals. Shipping records show that, to get approval on the quality of the chemicals, in 2024 Laxmi started sending out samples to companies with past business relationships with Miteni, including BASF, Chemours, DuPont and FMC.<\/p>\n Since early 2025, Laxmi\u2019s site in Lote Parshuram has been fully operational, producing chemicals that will be used in pesticides, pharmaceuticals, dyes, cosmetics and other products.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n The planet’s most important stories. Get all the week’s environment news – the good, the bad and the essential<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. 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