The Sicilian Mafia controls about thirty percent of Italy's waste disposal companies, including toxic waste, according to an Italian parliamentary study.

Commission head Massimo Scalia says the Mafia, seeking new business interests beyond their traditional southern strongholds, have moved into areas of Italy that had been considered free from the grip of organized crime.

The report says both local governments and companies unwittingly used Mafia-controlled firms to get rid of waste, especially industrial and toxic waste.

The commission, examining links between organzed crime and rubbish, says Mafia groups are infiltrating the entire chain of waste disposal.

The report on illegal waste trafficking says the so-called "ecomafia" runs companies dealing with about thirty-five million tons of refuse a year, making at least fifteen trillion lire ($6.66 billion).

The report also states that radioactive waste from Italy dumped in Somalia may have affected Italian soldiers based there with a United Nations force in the mid-1990s.