Exposure to air pollution is linked to an increase in violent crime

AIR POLLUTION is nothing to sniff at. Perhaps a third of all deaths from strokes, lung cancer and respiratory diseases can be linked to toxic air. In some cities, breathing outdoors is as dangerous as smoking 25 cigarettes a day. But whereas the health problems associated with air pollution can take years to manifest themselves, new research highlights a much more immediate—and violent—risk.

Breathing dirty air is linked to aggressive behaviour, according to a new paper by Jesse Burkhardt and his colleagues at Colorado State University and the University of Minnesota. Using crime data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and air-pollution data from the Environmental Protection Agency, the authors analyse the link between air pollution and violent crime in 397 American counties between 2006 and 2013.