For Ever Chemicals

PFAS: The Machinery of Contamination

1. . Preamble: The Shadow of Forever Chemicals

What Are “Forever Chemicals”?

“Forever chemicals” is the popular name for PFAS (Per‑ and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances), a vast family of synthetic compounds first developed in the mid‑20th century. They earned this ominous title because they do not break down naturally—persisting in soil, water, and even human bloodstreams for decades. Their resistance to heat, oil, and water made them attractive to industry, but their persistence has turned them into one of the most enduring pollutants of our age.

Who Are the Producers?

1. DuPont (USA): Accidentally discovered PTFE (later branded as Teflon) in 1938. DuPont became the pioneer of PFAS, embedding them in cookware, textiles, packaging, and industrial coatings.

2. 3M (USA): Developed PFOS and PFOA in the 1940s, used in Scotchgard and firefighting foams. For decades, 3M was the world’s largest PFAS producer.
3. Miteni S.p.A. (Italy): Based in Trissino, Veneto, Miteni became Europe’s leading PFAS manufacturer. Its operations contaminated groundwater across the Veneto region, exposing hundreds of thousands of residents.
4. Chemours (USA): A spin‑off from DuPont in 2015, inheriting much of the PFAS business and liability.
5. Lakshmi Organic Chemicals (India): Acquired Miteni’s machinery after its closure in 2018, restarting PFAS production in Maharashtra—raising alarms about toxic technology transfer.

Case Studies of Corporate Negligence

1. DuPont (USA):

1. Internal studies since the 1960s showed PFAS caused liver damage, cancers, and birth defects, yet the company concealed this data.
2. Communities near DuPont’s Washington Works plant in West Virginia were poisoned by PFAS dumped into the Ohio River.
3. Lawsuits culminated in multimillion‑dollar settlements, and the scandal inspired the film Dark Waters.
4. Miteni (Italy):

Operated for decades in Veneto, contaminating water supplies for 350,000 residents.

Declared bankruptcy in 2018, but in 2025, the Court of Assizes of Vicenza convicted 11 former executives, sentencing them to prison terms up to 17 years.

This was Italy’s first criminal ruling against corporate managers for PFAS pollution, a landmark in European environmental justice.

The story of forever chemicals is not just about industrial innovation—it is about systematic concealment, profit over health, and the export of pollution from one geography to another. DuPont in America, Miteni in Italy, and now Lakshmi Organic in India illustrate a chain of negligence that spans continents. Each case reveals the paradox of “development”: convenience for consumers, catastrophe for communities.

Abstract

This essay examines the paradox of PFAS production through the lens of Lakshmi Organic Industries Ltd, which imported machinery from Italy’s disgraced Miteni S.p.A. after its collapse. It highlights the health hazards of PFAS, the regulatory requirements ignored, and the systemic failures that allow toxic industries to migrate across borders. Europe punished executives and banned PFAS; India absorbed machines and restarted production. The narrative exposes not only corporate promoters but also financiers, auditors, and regulators who sustain the machinery of contamination.

• : Lakshmi Organic – Profile of a Chemical Giant

Origins and Growth

Lakshmi Organic Industries Ltd, headquartered in Mumbai, was promoted by the Goenka family, with Ravi Goenka serving as Chairman & Managing Director. The company began as a producer of acetyl intermediates, most notably ethyl acetate, establishing itself as India’s leading supplier of solvents used in paints, coatings, adhesives, packaging, and pharmaceuticals.

Expansion into Fluorochemicals

In the 2010s, Lakshmi Organic diversified into fluorochemicals, tapping into high‑value markets:

• Pharmaceuticals – Fluorine‑based intermediates for antibiotics, antivirals, and cancer drugs.
• Agrochemicals – Inputs for pesticides and herbicides.
• Electronics – Specialty coatings and semiconductor materials.

This expansion aligned Lakshmi with global demand, but also brought it closer to the controversial world of PFAS.

The Miteni Connection

The turning point came in 2018, when Italy’s Miteni S.p.A. collapsed under lawsuits and criminal convictions for PFAS contamination.

• Machinery Transfer: Lakshmi Organic acquired Miteni’s machinery and patents, relocating them to its Ratnagiri plant in Maharashtra.
• Restart of PFAS Production: This effectively transplanted Europe’s toxic legacy into India.
• Symbolic Paradox: While Italy punished executives, India welcomed the same technology under the banner of industrial growth.

Promoters, Financiers, and Auditors

• Promoters: The Goenka family, led by Ravi Goenka, anchors responsibility for strategic decisions and expansion into PFAS.
• Financiers: Institutional investors, banks, and public shareholders provide capital, profiting from growth while ignoring environmental risks.
• Auditors (Chartered Accountants): Bansi S. Mehta & Co., the statutory auditors, certify accounts and compliance, yet remain silent on ethical dimensions of production.

Current Production Lines

Lakshmi Organic now operates across three pillars:

1. Acetyl Intermediates – Ethyl acetate and solvents for paints, coatings, adhesives, packaging, and pharma.
2. Fluorochemicals – Inputs for pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and electronics.
3. PFAS (Forever Chemicals) – Nonstick coatings, waterproof fabrics, firefighting foams, and industrial applications.
4. : The Miteni Connection – Toxic Technology Transfer

The Italian Collapse

Miteni S.p.A., based in Trissino (Veneto), was Europe’s leading PFAS producer. Its operations contaminated groundwater across Veneto, exposing nearly 350,000 residents.

By 2018, mounting lawsuits and bankruptcy forced Miteni to shut down. In 2025, the Court of Assizes of Vicenza convicted 11 former executives, sentencing them to prison terms of up to 17 years — a landmark ruling that made corporate managers personally liable for environmental crimes.

Exporting the Machinery of Contamination

• Machinery Transfer: Industrial equipment and patents were sold off during bankruptcy. Lakshmi Organic Industries Ltd acquired these assets.
• Relocation: The machinery was shipped to Lote Parashuram industrial area in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra, where Lakshmi Organic reinstalled it.
• Restart of PFAS Production: This transplanted Europe’s banned technology into India.

Government of Italy – Approval and Riders

• Approval Context: The Italian government permitted liquidation and export of assets as part of bankruptcy proceedings.
• Riders / Conditions:

• PFAS production was banned in Italy; no restart allowed domestically.
• Executives were criminally convicted and held personally liable.
• Asset disposal was procedural — Italy allowed machinery to leave its borders, but did not endorse PFAS production abroad.
• European customers did not transfer; Lakshmi had to build its own customer base in India/Asia.

Financing the Transfer

Lakshmi Organic’s absorption of Miteni’s machinery was sustained by:

• Banks: Credit lines from Indian lenders (SBI, HDFC, ICICI, consortium banks), reaffirmed by India Ratings & Research at IND AA (Negative outlook).
• Institutional Investors: Mutual funds, insurance companies, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs).
• Commercial Paper Buyers: Short‑term debt instruments rated IND A1.
• Auditors: Bansi S. Mehta & Co. certified accounts, legitimizing financial flows.

Customers and Continuity

• Miteni’s Customers: European pharmaceutical and chemical firms.
• Lakshmi’s Customers: Indian and Asian firms in pharma, agrochemicals, and electronics.
• Continuity of Use: Though the names differ, the end‑use sectors are identical — PFAS intermediates for drugs, pesticides, and coatings.

Accountability in Italy vs. India

• Italy: Criminal convictions, bans, strict oversight.
• India: Weak regulation, no criminal liability, promoters and financiers shielded.
• Symbolic Paradox: Europe punished people; India absorbed machines. Accountability stopped at borders, while pollution

Here’s the continuation and completion of Section 3 and Section 4 so your master draft is fully intact, Satpal — no rephrasing, just carrying forward exactly as we finalized it:

Reformist Lens

The Miteni connection exposes a global paradox of industrial justice:

• Italy confronted PFAS contamination with criminal convictions and bans.
• India inherited the same machinery, financed by banks and investors, and legitimized by auditors.
• This is not just a transfer of technology — it is a transfer of risk, responsibility, and suffering, from European communities to Indian ones.
• : PFAS Production in India – Uses and Risks

Industrial Applications

Lakshmi Organic’s PFAS production in Ratnagiri feeds into multiple high‑value industries:

• Pharmaceuticals – Fluorinated intermediates for antibiotics, antivirals, and cancer drugs.
• Agrochemicals – Pesticides and herbicides.
• Electronics – Semiconductor coatings and specialty materials.
• Industrial Coatings – Nonstick, waterproof, and fire‑resistant applications.

Everyday Consumer Uses

PFAS infiltrate daily life: cookware, textiles, food packaging, firefighting foams.

Health Hazards

PFAS exposure is linked to cancer, immune disruption, reproductive harm, organ damage, and bioaccumulation across generations.

Environmental Risks

PFAS contaminate water, soil, and marine life and persist in waste streams.

📑 Summary of the Miteni Case (Italy)

• Background: Miteni contaminated groundwater across Veneto, affecting 350,000 residents.
• Collapse: Bankruptcy in 2018.
• Evidence: Internal documents showed decades of concealment.
• Impact: Drinking water, farmland, and bloodstreams poisoned.

Financing Flows and Responsibility in India

1. Banks: Indian lenders (SBI, HDFC, ICICI, consortium banks) provide credit lines sustaining PFAS operations.

2. Institutional Investors: Mutual funds and FPIs hold equity stakes, profiting from expansion.
3. Auditors: Bansi S. Mehta & Co. certify accounts, legitimizing financial flows without addressing ethical risks.

Timely Convictions

• Europe: Criminal convictions, bans, strict oversight.
• India: Weak regulation, limited monitoring, no criminal liability for promoters or financiers.
• Result: India risks becoming a dumping ground for toxic industries, absorbing machinery and production that Europe has rejected.

PFAS in India are not just chemicals — they are symbols of systemic failure. The Miteni case proves accountability is possible, yet India’s regulators and financiers remain silent. Lakshmi Organic’s PFAS production continues under the same conditions that led to criminal convictions in Europe.

• : Voices of Protest – Local and Global Resistance

Veneto: The European Struggle

In Italy, the collapse of Miteni did not happen in silence. For years, communities across Veneto fought against invisible contamination. Farmers, mothers, and workers organized protests, demanding clean water and accountability. Their persistence culminated in the 2025 Vicenza judgment, where executives were not only convicted, but communities were formally recognized as victims. Activism transformed outrage into precedent, proving that collective resistance could bend the arc of justice.

Ratnagiri: The Indian Alarm

When Miteni’s machinery resurfaced in Maharashtra, activists and local leaders began raising objections.

• Political Voices: Rohit Pawar, MLA of NCP (SP), publicly alleged that Lakshmi Organic’s Ratnagiri plant was emitting hazardous PFAS compounds. His intervention echoed the warnings that had once been ignored in Veneto.
• Community Concerns: Residents feared contamination of groundwater and fisheries, drawing parallels with the European disaster.
• Media Exposure: Investigations by Big Story Network and ThePrint revealed how machinery banned in Italy was “welcomed in India,” sparking alarm among environmentalists.

The objections in Ratnagiri mirror the protests in Veneto. In both geographies, activists became the first line of defense against corporate negligence. Yet the outcomes diverge:

• Italy: Activism led to criminal convictions and systemic bans.
• India: Activism has so far led only to notices and political statements, with regulators hesitant to confront financiers and promoters.

Concerns: Water and Livelihoods

In Ratnagiri, the alarm is not abstract. It is rooted in the district’s dependence on groundwater and fisheries — two lifelines now threatened by PFAS.

1. Groundwater: Villages across Ratnagiri rely on wells and aquifers for drinking and irrigation. PFAS are water‑soluble and mobile, meaning once released they seep into aquifers and persist for decades. Residents fear a repeat of Veneto, where contamination spread invisibly until 350,000 people discovered PFAS in their drinking water.

2. Fisheries: Ratnagiri’s coastal economy thrives on fishing and seafood exports. PFAS accumulate in marine life, entering the food chain. For fishing communities, contamination would mean both health risks and economic collapse, as poisoned catches lose domestic and international markets.
3. Echoes of Veneto: The comparison is deliberate. In Veneto, contamination was ignored until it became undeniable. In Ratnagiri, residents are raising alarms early, pointing to the same machinery, the same chemicals, and the same risks. Their concerns are not speculative — they are comparative, grounded in precedent.

Community concerns highlight the continuity of risk: PFAS do not respect geography. The machinery imported from Italy carries not only patents and steel but also the inevitability of poisoned water and collapsing livelihoods. In Veneto, silence led to disaster. In Ratnagiri, protest is an attempt to prevent history from repeating itself.

The voices of protest reveal the paradox of accountability:

• In Europe, activism forced courts to act.
• In India, activism is still struggling to pierce the shield of corporate power and regulatory inertia.
• The transfer of machinery was not just a transfer of technology — it was a transfer of struggle, where communities in Ratnagiri now inherit the burden once borne by Veneto.
• : The Financial Architecture of Negligence

Banks: The Silent Lifelines

Behind every toxic plant stands a consortium of banks. In India, lenders such as SBI, HDFC, ICICI, and others extended credit lines to Lakshmi Organic, reaffirmed by India Ratings & Research at IND AA (Negative outlook). These institutions did not question the ethics of importing banned machinery; they only measured profitability and repayment capacity. By underwriting PFAS production, banks became silent lifelines of contamination.

Institutional Investors: Profit Over Accountability

Mutual funds, insurance companies, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) hold equity stakes in Lakshmi Organic. Their quarterly reports celebrate growth in fluorochemicals, yet omit the word “PFAS.” In their silence lies complicity: investors profit from expansion while communities absorb the risks. The financial markets reward negligence, turning pollution into dividends.

Commercial Paper Buyers: Liquidity for Toxicity

Short‑term debt instruments rated IND A1 provided liquidity for Lakshmi Organic’s operations. Buyers of these instruments — corporations, funds, and institutions — became indirect financiers of PFAS. Their transactions appear routine, yet they sustain the machinery of contamination day by day.

Auditors: Legitimizing the Ledger

Bansi S. Mehta & Co., the statutory auditors, certified Lakshmi Organic’s accounts. Their signatures transformed toxic balance sheets into legitimate corporate documents. By focusing on compliance rather than ethics, auditors legitimized the flows of capital that sustain PFAS production. In the architecture of negligence, auditors are the gatekeepers who opened the gates.

Reformist Lens

The financial system is not peripheral — it is central. Banks, investors, paper buyers, and auditors form the scaffolding that allows toxic industries to thrive. Without them, machinery imported from Italy would have remained idle. With them, it was re‑installed, financed, and legitimized. The architecture of negligence is built not only by promoters but by every institution that chose profit over accountability.

• : The Regulatory Vacuum

Europe: Accountability Enforced

In Veneto, the collapse of Miteni triggered not just outrage but systemic response. Courts convicted executives, regulators banned PFAS production, and governments invested in water treatment. Europe demonstrated that when contamination is undeniable, oversight can be sharpened into accountability. The precedent was clear: corporate negligence could be criminal, and regulators could act decisively.

India: Oversight in Name Only

In Ratnagiri, the same machinery was re‑installed under the banner of industrial growth. Yet oversight remained skeletal:

• Pollution Control Boards issued notices but stopped short of criminal liability.
• Regulatory Agencies focused on compliance paperwork rather than substantive monitoring.
• Government Ministries celebrated expansion into fluorochemicals without acknowledging the toxic legacy of PFAS.

The regulatory vacuum allowed promoters, financiers, and auditors to operate without fear. What Europe criminalized, India normalized.

The Paradox of Development

India’s regulatory silence reveals a paradox:

• Development is measured in output, not impact.
• Compliance is reduced to paperwork, not accountability.
• Risk is transferred to communities, not absorbed by corporations.

This vacuum is not accidental — it is structural. By failing to criminalize negligence, regulators enable the very industries they are meant to oversee.

The regulatory vacuum is the final pillar of the machinery of contamination. Banks finance, auditors legitimize, promoters expand — but it is regulators who allow the cycle to continue. In Europe, oversight became accountability. In India, oversight remains a ritual.

The result is predictable: PFAS production thrives, communities suffer, and the machinery of contamination spins without interruption.

• : The Human Cost

Health Impacts

PFAS are not invisible abstractions; they leave measurable scars on human bodies.

• Cancer: Linked to kidney and testicular cancers, with elevated risks documented in exposed communities.
• Immune Suppression: PFAS reduce antibody responses to vaccines, weakening collective immunity.
• Reproductive Harm: Studies associate PFAS with infertility, pregnancy complications, and low birth weight.
• Organ Damage: PFAS disrupt liver enzymes, thyroid function, and cholesterol regulation.
• Generational Transfer: PFAS persist in bloodstreams, passing from mothers to newborns, embedding contamination across generations.

Livelihoods at Risk

The human cost is not confined to hospitals; it extends to livelihoods.

• Groundwater Dependence: Villages in Ratnagiri rely on wells and aquifers. PFAS contamination would poison drinking water and irrigation alike.
• Fisheries Collapse: Ratnagiri’s coastal economy depends on seafood exports. PFAS bioaccumulate in fish, threatening both health and market viability.
• Agricultural Impact: Contaminated soil and water would infiltrate crops, echoing Veneto, where PFAS were found in livestock and produce.

Generational Impact

PFAS are “forever” not only in chemistry but in consequence.

• Children born in contaminated regions carry PFAS in their blood from birth.
• Communities inherit chronic illness, reduced fertility, and economic decline.
• The cycle of harm is not a single disaster but a permanent inheritance.

Global Costs

The economic burden of PFAS is staggering:

• Hundreds of billions of dollars annually are spent on healthcare, water treatment, and remediation worldwide.
• Communities pay the hidden subsidy, while corporations and financiers reap profits.

The human cost of PFAS is sharp, factual, and undeniable. It is not abstract chemistry but cancer diagnoses, poisoned wells, collapsing fisheries, and generational harm. Europe recognized victims and punished executives. India risks repeating the cycle by denying emissions and ignoring activists. The machinery of contamination is not only steel and patents — it is the machinery of suffering, exported from one community to another.

Here’s the continuation, Satpal — carrying the narrative into Section 9: The Global Paradox of Development, in the same sharp, text‑flow style:

• : The Global Paradox of Development

Europe: Accountability as Development

In Veneto, PFAS contamination forced a reckoning. Courts convicted executives, regulators banned production, and governments invested in remediation. Development was redefined not as industrial output but as protection of communities and ecosystems. Europe demonstrated that growth without accountability is regression, and accountability itself can be a marker of progress.

India: Absorption as Development

In Ratnagiri, the same machinery was welcomed under the banner of industrial growth. Regulators celebrated diversification into fluorochemicals, financiers applauded ratings, and promoters expanded production. Development was measured in capacity and exports, not in health or sustainability. What Europe criminalized, India normalized.

The Paradox

The paradox of development lies in its geography:

• Europe: Accountability curtailed production, protecting communities.
• India: Absorption expanded production, exposing communities.
• Global System: Pollution is exported, profit is retained, and suffering is redistributed.

Continuity of Negligence

The machinery of contamination is not just steel and patents — it is a system of transfer:

• From Europe’s courts to India’s regulators.
• From European victims to Indian communities.
• From criminal liability to financial legitimacy.

Reformist Lens

The global paradox of development reveals a brutal truth: what is banned in one geography is celebrated in another. Accountability stops at borders, while contamination crosses them freely. Development, in its current form, is not universal progress but selective protection — shielding some communities while sacrificing others.

10. : Demands and Directions

1. Criminal Accountability

• Executives and Promoters: Just as Italy convicted Miteni’s managers, India must hold promoters personally liable for PFAS contamination.
• Financiers and Auditors: Banks, investors, and auditors who enable toxic industries must face accountability, not just corporations.

2. Regulatory Overhaul

• Ban PFAS Production: India must align with Europe’s bans, halting new PFAS facilities and phasing out existing ones.
• Independent Monitoring: Pollution Control Boards must move beyond paperwork to real‑time monitoring of emissions and effluents.
• Transparency Mandates: Corporations must disclose PFAS use, emissions, and health risks in public filings.

3. Community Protection

• Water Security: Immediate testing of groundwater and fisheries in Ratnagiri, with clean water guaranteed to residents.
• Health Surveillance: Long‑term medical monitoring of exposed communities, with compensation for victims.
• Livelihood Safeguards: Protection of fisheries and agriculture from contamination, with economic support where damage occurs.

4. Global Responsibility

• Technology Transfer Controls: Machinery banned in one geography must not be exported to another.
• International Oversight: PFAS must be treated as a global pollutant, with cross‑border accountability mechanisms.
• Corporate Liability Across Borders: DuPont, 3M, Chemours, Miteni, and Lakshmi Organic must be held accountable not only locally but globally.

Reform is not optional — it is urgent. PFAS are “forever” in chemistry, but they must not be forever in governance. The machinery of contamination thrives on silence, complicity, and fragmented accountability. Reform demands a unified response: criminal liability, regulatory overhaul, community protection, and global responsibility. Only then can development be redefined as justice for communities, not profit for corporations.

1. Conclusion – Breaking the Machinery of Contamination

The story of PFAS is not only about chemistry but about power. It is about how corporations conceal evidence, how financiers enable expansion, how auditors legitimize negligence, and how regulators abdicate responsibility. It is about how machinery banned in Europe is shipped to India, transforming one community’s disaster into another’s risk.

From DuPont in West Virginia to Miteni in Veneto, and now Lakshmi Organic in Ratnagiri, the pattern is unmistakable: profit travels freely across borders, while accountability remains trapped within them. Communities inherit contamination, not dividends.

Yet the machinery of contamination is not invincible. Veneto proved that activism can force courts to convict executives. Ratnagiri’s protests show that communities can raise alarms before disaster unfolds. Reformist demands — criminal liability, regulatory overhaul, community protection, and global responsibility — chart a path forward.

Breaking the machinery of contamination requires redefining development itself. Growth cannot be measured in exports and capacity alone; it must be measured in clean water, healthy children, and protected livelihoods. Accountability must be global, not selective. Justice must be universal, not geographic.

PFAS are “forever” in chemistry, but they must not be forever in governance. The charge‑sheet is clear: unless the machinery is dismantled, contamination will continue its migration from one geography to another. The conclusion is not despair but demand — a demand that development be reclaimed as justice, and that the machinery of contamination be broken, once and for all.

References

• PFAS Health Impacts
  • National Cancer Institute – PFAS Exposure and Risk of Cancer
  • Messmer, M.F. & Locwin, B. – PFAS Exposure, Reproductive Impacts, Cancer, and other Health Effects (Andrology Open Access)
  • The Lancet EBioMedicine – Forever chemicals: the persistent effects of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances
• Global Precedent – Italy (Miteni Case)
  • Taft PFAS Insights – Italian Court Sentences 11 Over Crimes Related to PFAS Contamination (Court of Assizes of Vicenza, 2025)
  • Renewable Matter – Miteni PFAS Trial: Historic Ruling Condemns 11 Former Executives
  • ChemTrust – Italian Court Ruling Sentences 11 Executives to Jail for PFAS Pollution
• India – Ratnagiri Controversy

• National Herald India – PFAS row erupts over Ratnagiri chemical plant machinery in Maharashtra
• Hindustan Times – Ratnagiri plant has machinery of ‘tainted’ Italian firm, emitting hazardous chemicals: Rohit Pawar
• Loksatta (Marathi) – PFAS chemical production continues at Lakshmi Organic despite Pollution Control Board notice

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Satpal Singh Johar

Email: satpalsingh1944@yahoo.com /esspess@gmail.com

Cell Number: +91 9871286514

Website: Pointblank0.com