Can wind farms make people sick?

Crikey.com.au
Tuesday 23/2/2010 Page: 1

Last week Kevin Rudd and Peter Garrett were confronted at a Ballarat meeting by angry residents living nearby the Waubra windfarm, 35 kilometres north-west of Ballarat, run by Acciona Energy. ABC AM's report included the following.

Belinda Wheel: Mr Rudd, residents are suffering from sleep deprivation, ah, health problems due to wind turbines sited too close to home.
Berni Jannsen: Within weeks of the last ones being turned on I started getting headaches, started getting heart palpitations.
Donald Thomas: Mostly ear pressure, headaches, heart palpitations, high blood pressure.
Samantha Hawley (reporter): Donald Thomas lives about three kilometres from the wind farm.
Donald Thomas: Before the wind mill started operating there was none of this.
Samantha Hawley: Last week the company bought a property from one of its most vocal critics who is now subject to a confidentiality agreement.

With often clanking windmills having been around for 5000 years, what are we to make of such claims, particularly since the affected residents were reported as living three kilometres away from the windfarm? Are they calculated displays from a few people seeking to cash in on hopes of land sales or compensation? Do they reflect genuine health effects actually caused by the noise from the windfarm? Or are they equally genuine health effects caused by residents' anxiety about the towers?

The noise generated by modern wind turbines at distances between 300-600 metres is generally within 40 to 50 decibels, the equivalent to the sound of light traffic at 16 metres or the sound in a normal living room with ordinary conversation. So at three kilometres, the turbines would be virtually inaudible. Suggestions that the reported health problems are due to "low frequency" noise or "changes in air pressure" have been made.

A large review of the scientific evidence, commissioned by the American and Canadian wind energy associations, AWEA and CanWEA, It concludes - Following review, analysis, and discussion of current knowledge, the panel reached consensus on the following conclusions:

• There is no evidence that the audible or sub-audible sounds emitted by wind turbines have any direct adverse physiological effects.
• The ground-borne vibrations from wind turbines are too weak to be detected by, or to affect, humans.
• The sounds emitted by wind turbines are not unique.

There is no reason to believe, based on the levels and frequencies of the sounds and the panel's experience with sound exposures in occupational settings, that the sounds from wind turbines could plausibly have direct adverse health consequences. The authors discuss the likelihood that the "nocebo" effect comes into play with community concerns about adverse effects producing a worsening of mental or physical health, based on fear or belief in the likelihood of adverse effects.