Toxic air pollutes our minds as well as our bodies triggering criminal behaviour – such as robbery and murder – and cheating, study suggests
Boffins have found a direct link between air pollution and behaviour with experiments showing that even the thought of dirty air can trigger other dirty thoughts
TOXIC AIR is as harmful to our minds as it is to our bodies, a study says.
Just thinking about air pollution can cause people to make unethical decisions and trigger bad behaviour.
Scientists who looked at data for 9,360 US cities over nine years found that exposure to dirty air was linked to crime and cheating.
Air pollution data included information about six major pollutants and the crime data accounted for seven types of major offence, including murder and robbery.
The study showed cities with higher levels of pollution tended to have higher levels of crime.
This was even true after accounting for other potential factors, including total population, number of law enforcement employees, race distribution and poverty and unemployment rates.
A series of experiments were then carried out to find a direct link between pollution and behaviour by asking people to 'imagine' air pollution.
Results showed participants who thought about living in a polluted area cheated more often than did those who thought about living in a clean area.
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They also expressed more anxiety in their writing.
Jackson Lu, of Columbia Business School, said: “It suggests pollution can contaminate morality.”
"This is important because air pollution is a serious global issue that affects billions of people."