Signal 4：Air Pollution May Be Harming Teen Brains

Air pollution exerts many marked negative effects on human health: excessive particulate matterin the air can cause breathing problems, trigger asthma, reduce lung function and lead to lung diseases. Based on research data, air pollution kills more than 3 million people a year. Recently, a study from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine assumed that air pollution may be having insidious effects on adolescents’ brains. From 2000 to 2014, researchers measured daily air pollution (particulate matter or PM2.5) in Southern California; to assess delinquency, they asked parents to keep a child-behavior checklist to record behaviors such as lying, stealing, and substance abuse. The study concluded that air pollution may increase delinquent behavior in adolescents.

This finding is really appalling and must not be overlooked by cities because the evidence shows that now air pollution not only harms people’s physical health but also mental health. Also, delinquency cannot just be classified as youthful misbehaving; in fact, a paper from the National pointed out that, especially from the ages of 12 to 16, it is a strong predictor of future criminal convictions.I think, to maintain sustainable development of mankind, cities should do their utmost in enacting air pollution reform by investing new technologies that improves air quality, afforestation, placing restrictions on transportation andIndustrial manufacturing, even imposing pollution tax, etc. At last, participation plays the most important role in fighting air pollution.

Citation:

Teresa Mathew @_teamat Feed Teresa Mathew, and CityLab. “Does Air Pollution Change Teens’ Behavior?” CityLab. December 18, 2017. Accessed October 27, 2018. https://www.citylab.com/environment/2017/12/las-air-pollution-may-be-harming-teen-brains/548510/.