After years of improvements, pollution is rising again in several coastal regions, according to a leaked report from Italys ministry of health. Swimming is now banned along 433 km of Italys shores, Campania being the worst offender with some 93 km of polluted beaches, compared to 82 km in last years survey. The next most-polluted regions are Sicily with 74 km of dirty beaches, Sardinia with 65 km, and Calabria with 60 km, all of which were more polluted in 2005 than in 2004. On hearing the results, the leader of Italys Green party, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, said government proposals to sell the beaches to contractors instead of cleaning them, showed its priorities were wrong: Berlusconis government wants to sell rather than clean our beaches. In terms of bacteria, Lazio has the most dangerous beaches, with salmonella found in eight per cent of analyses more than twice the figure for Abruzzo, the next worst region at three per cent. Some 28 km of once-safe shores are now off limits due to a higher risk of bacteria a seven per cent rise on last years figures.