Windfarm sickness spreads by word of mouth, Australian study finds

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/15/windfarm-sickness-spread-word-australia


Windfarms do not cause illness, other than the alarm spread by opponents, an Australian study has found. Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Sickness being attributed to wind turbines is more likely to have been caused by people getting alarmed at the health warnings circulated by activists, an Australian study has found.

Complaints of illness were far more prevalent in communities targeted by anti-windfarm groups, said the report's author, Simon Chapman, professor of public health at Sydney University. His report concludes that illnesses being blamed on windfarms are more than likely caused by the psychological effect of suggestions that the turbines make people ill, rather than by the turbines themselves.

"If windfarms were intrinsically unhealthy or dangerous in some way, we would expect to see complaints applying to all of them, but in fact there is a large number where there have been no complaints at all," Chapman said.

The report, which is the first study of the history of complaints about windfarms in Australia, found that 63% had never been subject to noise or health complaints. In the state of Western Australia, where there are 13 windfarms, there have been no complaints.

[pscot]

1. Pssst! Wind kills. Pass it on.