Italy chemical plant execs jailed for pollution
Eleven executives from companies including Japan's Mitsubishi and Luxembourg-based International Chemical Investors (ICIG) were convicted for contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) of drinking water as well as soil through the Miteni plant in the northeastern city of Trissino.
The court sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to 17 years, in the case of two executives at now-folded Italian firm Miteni.
Four other defendants were acquitted.
PFAS -- or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances -- are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals that repel heat, water, oil, and stains.
Developed in the 1940s, they are still used in nonstick pans and stain-proof carpets, yet are now linked to hormonal disruption, immune suppression and cancers.
Their ultra-tough carbon-fluorine bonds take millennia to break down in the environment.
The now-shuttered plant produced PFAS from 1968 and was run by three companies until its closure due to bankruptcy in 2018.
It leaked chemical-laced waste into a waterway, polluting a vast area between Vicenza, Verona and Padova, according to prosecutors.
The trial opened in 2021.
Prosecutors had requested cumulative jail terms of 121 years. The court's sentence was even tougher: a total of more than 141 years.
Hundreds of civil plaintiffs joined the trial, including environmental group Greenpeace and local mothers who united after discovering their families had the chemicals in their blood.
Greenpeace Italy representative Chiara Campione called the ruling "historic" in a statement.
The individuals and companies involved were sentenced to pay more than 6.5 million euros ($ 7.6 million) in damages to the Veneto region -- a ruling welcomed by regional leader Luca Zaia.
They will also have to pay 58 million euros in damages to the Italian environment ministry, according to media reports.
In May, a court ruled the death of a worker at the plant who died of cancer in 2014 was caused by prolonged exposure to PFAS.
© 2025 AFP
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France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
Italy chemical plant execs jailed for pollution
Eleven executives from companies including Japan's Mitsubishi and Luxembourg-based International Chemical Investors (ICIG) were convicted for contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) of drinking water as well as soil through the Miteni plant in the northeastern city of Trissino. The court sentenced them to prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to 17 years, in the case of two executives at now-folded Italian firm Miteni. Four other defendants were acquitted. PFAS -- or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances -- are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals that repel heat, water, oil, and stains. Developed in the 1940s, they are still used in nonstick pans and stain-proof carpets, yet are now linked to hormonal disruption, immune suppression and cancers. Their ultra-tough carbon-fluorine bonds take millennia to break down in the environment. The now-shuttered plant produced PFAS from 1968 and was run by three companies until its closure due to bankruptcy in 2018. It leaked chemical-laced waste into a waterway, polluting a vast area between Vicenza, Verona and Padova, according to prosecutors. The trial opened in 2021. Prosecutors had requested cumulative jail terms of 121 years. The court's sentence was even tougher: a total of more than 141 years. Hundreds of civil plaintiffs joined the trial, including environmental group Greenpeace and local mothers who united after discovering their families had the chemicals in their blood. Greenpeace Italy representative Chiara Campione called the ruling "historic" in a statement. The individuals and companies involved were sentenced to pay more than 6.5 million euros ($ 7.6 million) in damages to the Veneto region -- a ruling welcomed by regional leader Luca Zaia. They will also have to pay 58 million euros in damages to the Italian environment ministry, according to media reports. In May, a court ruled the death of a worker at the plant who died of cancer in 2014 was caused by prolonged exposure to PFAS. © 2025 AFP
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The now-shuttered Miteni factory near the northeastern city of Vicenza is alleged to have polluted one of Europe's largest groundwater basins with PFAS, dubbed "forever chemicals" because they never break down. The prosecution alleges that the plant in Trissino, which produced PFAS from 1968 and was run by three companies until its closure due to bankruptcy in 2018, leaked chemical-laced wastewater into a waterway, polluting a vast area between Vicenza, Verona and Padova. Fifteen managers from Mitsubishi, International Chemical Investors (ICIG) and Miteni are charged with contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) of drinking water, as well as soil. Prosecutors in the trial, which began in 2021, have called for the managers to be sentenced to a total of 121 years in jail, lawyer Edoardo Bortolotto told AFP Thursday. Over 200 civil plaintiffs have joined the trial, including Greenpeace and local mothers who united after discovering their families had the chemicals in their blood. PFAS have been used since the late 1940s to mass produce the nonstick, waterproof and stain-resistant treatments that coat everything from frying pans to umbrellas, carpets and dental floss. But chronic exposure to even low levels of the chemicals has been linked to liver damage, high cholesterol, reduced immune responses, low birthweights and several kinds of cancer. The contamination was discovered in 2013 after Italy's environment ministry ordered tests of the Po River following a 2006 European project assessing exposure to such chemicals in rivers. Of all the rivers studied, the Po had the highest concentrations of one specific PFAS called PFOA, a known carcinogen. Further investigation identified Miteni as the source. At the time, there were no Italian or EU thresholds for PFAS content in drinking water, according to a regional report by the World Health Organization (WHO). © 2025 AFP
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