Italy jails 11 over PFAS

A district court in Vicenza, Italy, has sentenced 11 people to prison terms ranging from two years and eight months to 17 years and six months for their role in contaminating groundwater and rivers with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) over many years. The defendants were also ordered to pay €57 million in fine to the Italian environment ministry. 

The 11 included three Japanese nationals who had been business managers of Mitsubishi’s fluorochemical business division and one more who was the general manager of the division, plus others from ICIG. They received some of the highest sentences. Four others were acquitted. 

All had worked for Miteni, a former Mitsubishi subsidiary that operated a facility at Trissino, near Vicenza. The court also ordered Mitsubishi to compensate to victims, including individual citizens, the Veneto region and the municipal government.

In 2013, the regional authorities identified the Miteni plant as the source of PFAS pollutants in the area. Investigations found concentrations in local residents’ blood far exceeded acceptable levels, while the pollution extended over some 200 km2. An estimated 350,000 people in the provinces of Vicenza, Verona and Padova were affected.

The prosecution at the trial, which opened in 2021, accused Miteni of failing to treat PFAS waste generated during the manufacturing process properly, allowing them to enter the groundwater and trying to conceal the problem after the pollution came to light. Miteni itself was sold to ICIG in 2009 and went bankrupt in 2018. The facility has been closed.

“This was a groundbreaking ruling that almost entirely recognizes corporate responsibility,” said Marco Casellato, a lawyer representing the victims. It was the first time corporate managers have been held criminal responsible in Europe. Greenpeace Italy representative Chiara Campione called the ruling “historic”.

Meanwhile Green MEP Cristina Guarda noted that the ruling “goes even further than the prosecutors' requests and is of immense value to the people. We have fought for over a decade to defend our health, our environment, and the food we eat and our efforts have finally been recognised.”