Air pollution is linked to crime

TRAFFIC fumes may be polluting our morality, a study suggests.

Exposure to pollution is linked to crime and cheating – even when other factors such as poverty and employment are accounted for, researchers found.

And just thinking about air pollution led to people cheating and behaving unethically in laboratory tests.

‘This research reveals that air pollution may have potential ethical costs that go beyond its well-known toll on health and the environment,’ said study leader Jackson Lu, at Columbia Business School in the United States.

‘Our findings suggest that air pollution not only corrupts people’s health, but also can contaminate their morality.’

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, drew on previous research which showed exposure to pollution increases anxiety, which is known to cause unethical behaviour.