Air pollution increases the risk of crime due to stress

Pollutants can increase stress levels, affecting your ability to judge and identify things. This is one of the premise that leads to crime in cities with serious pollution.

The impact of air pollution on human health has long been mentioned. When people come into contact with pollutants in the air, we are prone to respiratory infections, cardiovascular disease, stroke, lung cancer or Alzheimer's dementia.

However, few people know that air pollution affects not only our health but also our behavior. Lead was removed from gasoline in the US in the 1970s in response to fears that lead-containing car emissions may affect children's behavior, learning and IQ.

Air pollution affects not only health but also our behavior.

In particular, children who are often exposed to lead from small children are noticeably aggressive, impulsive and have low IQ. These are very easy personalities to form criminal acts. Interestingly, the results from the separation of lead from gasoline have helped reduce crime rates by 56% in the 1990s.

Is there a link between air pollution and increased crime rates?

In Shanghai, China in recent years, officials have recorded cases of people exposed to polluted air, containing sulfur dioxide to be hospitalized because of a mental disorder.

According to Independent, there have been many studies investigating the link between air pollution and bad expression. In particular, a study conducted in Los Angeles, USA showed that high levels of air pollution increase criminal behavior in teenagers living in urban areas. Of course, criminal acts also depend a lot on family relationships and education since childhood.

Or as another study in more than 9,360 cities in the United States. The results show that air pollution indirectly increases crime rates. Toxic air raises anxiety and leads to manifestations of crime and immorality. This also means that the more polluted the city becomes, the higher the crime rate will become.

In addition, recent research by British scientists has provided more important evidence. Specifically, the study compared data of 1.8 million criminals over the past 2 years with pollution data from areas of London. Source of pollution data is synthesized from factors such as temperature, humidity, rainfall by week and different seasons.

High levels of air pollution increase crime in adolescents living in urban areas.

In particular, scientists rely on air quality index (AQI) to determine the level of air pollution. The results showed that when the AQI index increased by 10%, the crime rate also increased by 0.9%. In particular, the level of crime increased mainly on the most polluted days.

However, the study found only a link between air pollution and light offenses such as stealing and pickpockets. On the contrary, they found no connection with dangerous types of crimes such as murder, rape or human assault.

Can air pollution be the cause of increased crime rates?

Exposure to poor air quality can increase the stress hormone typically cortisol . This hormone can seriously affect cognitive ability, increasing anxiety levels if too much is produced.

In addition, the objective factors of social impact such as drinking, sabotage of the public, ignoring, tolerance of wrongdoings, etc. will also significantly affect a person's behavior.

For the first time, people have a different view of their impact on their own behavior and perception.

The impact of air pollution on human health is obvious, but for the first time, people have a different view of their impact on their own behavior and awareness.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 9 out of 10 people in the world still have to breathe toxic air.

There are still many things we can not fully understand about the impact of pollutants on human health and behavior. In addition, air pollution does not always affect the entire world population. Specifically, the difference is also in gender, age, social class, income or geographic location.

In general, to confirm the link between high levels of air pollution and increased crime rates requires a long and thorough research process. However, it is not difficult to find evidence to show the impact of air quality on one's physical and mental health.

Thinking, governments, organizations and individuals in big cities need to be aware of the impact of air pollution on their health and behavior. Once you understand the cause, the rest is just an effort to prevent and improve air quality by prioritizing clean energy, managing waste more efficiently.