http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2013/05/07/3750264.htm
Wind farm sickness: anedcotes versus evidence
segment of article:
Anti-wind lobby groups (such as the Waubra Foundation, headed by ex-GP Sarah Laurie) travel to communities facing wind farm developments, and present direct testimony from individuals attributing a range of symptoms to the presence of wind turbines. Anecdotal evidence is their key instrument in spreading fear of wind energy.
This is stated explicitly by Peter Quinn, a South Australian barrister who regularly represents anti-wind lobby groups:
"That experience is in itself, evidence. If you dragged in thirty people from Waubra, twenty from Waterloo and put them in a court room, to talk about the loss and the suffering, it will support a claim to obtain an injunction against any wind farm being proposed"
The implication is quite clear - anecdotal reports and emotional recitations are powerful tools in the fight against wind farm developments. Consequently, a large number of claimed health impacts, attributed to wind turbines, exist in the public domain.
Chapman began compiling these symptoms in early 2012. His list grew rapidly - it currently numbers 216, and features a bewildering array of symptoms, involving adults, children, cattle, sheep, chicken, dogs, peacocks, cats, pigs, earthworms, crabs, goats, crickets and horses (pdf).
These symptoms are collectively referred to as "Wind Turbine Syndrome" (WTS), originally coined by Nina Pierpont (a paediatrician married to an anti-wind activist). It has become the fundamental claim of groups working to stifle the development of renewables in Australia.
The 'disease' is not recognised by any medical authority in the world. It is purportedly caused by infrasonic (less than 20 Hz) noise from wind turbines. The South Australian Environmental Protection Agency recently measured levels of infrasound near wind farms(pdf), and compared them to rural and urban environments. Wind farms had some of the lowest recorded levels in their study. Some of the highest levels of infrasound were recorded inside the EPA's office in Adelaide.
Importantly, research conducted by Professor Simon Chapman of Sydney University seems to show that complaints of ill-health seem to cluster around wind farms that have been subject to the presence of anti-wind lobbyists.
Anti-wind groups happily embrace the improbable claims that surround wind energy. In a submission to the NSW Planning Minister, Laurie wrote that "rapid fluctuations in barometric pressure" can "perceptibly rock stationary cars even further than a kilometre from the nearest turbine". No source is given for the information.
Under oath in the Environment, Resources and Development Court, she claimed that wind turbines can cause "lip vibration" 10 kilometres away. The source was anedoctes from local people who believe themselves to be suffering 'wind turbine syndrome'.
These are not diagnoses borne of scientific rigour. The grandiosity of the purported impacts of wind turbines are a consequence of over-reliance on personal testimony, combined with an apparent aversion to objective analysis.
