Wind Turbines linked to ¡°Sick Building Syndrome¡±

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Wind Turbines linked to ¡°Sick Building Syndrome¡±

http://windconcernsontario.wordpress.com/2010/11/16/wind-turbines-linked-to-sick\

-building-syndrome/

Picton, Ontario,November 16, 2010 ¨C High levels of low frequency noise (LFN)

are produced and can be measured at wind turbine developments according to

INCE, acoustics specialist from Michigan.

At the First International Symposium on Adverse Health Effects and Industrial

Wind Turbines (October 29-31, 2010) Mr. demonstrated the presence of LFN

recorded from industrial wind turbines that have been located too close to

homes in rural Ontario.

Although the wind industry does not acknowledge that industrial wind turbines

generate LFN that affects humans, the National Research Council in 2007 stated:

¡°Wind turbines generate a broad spectrum of noise including low frequency

noise¡­which may be audible or inaudible¡±. In addition in 1999 The World Health

Organization stated: ¡°It is widely affirmed that exposure to audible low

frequency noise can cause adverse health effects in humans¡±.

Therefore the question today is why did the Canadian Wind Energy Association

request Ontario¡¯s Minister of Environment to exclude the measurement of Low

Frequency Noise at wind development sites? Comments submitted to the Ministry of

Environment by Hornung, President of the industrial lobby group the

Canadian Wind Energy Association (CanWEA) stated: ¡°¡­CanWEA submits that the

proposed requirement for infrasound or low frequency noise monitoring as a

condition of the REA [Renewable Energy Approval] be removed.¡±

While low frequency noise is typically not heard, Dr. Alec Salt, PhD of

Washington University in St Louis reported at the Symposium in Picton, Ontario

that low frequency sounds that cannot be heard can indeed affect the ear and

cause unpleasant symptoms. In fact industrial wind turbines appear to be

affecting people around the world. Identical symptoms such as sleep deprivation,

migraines, nosebleeds, vertigo, tinnitus, nausea, cardiac arrhythmia and high

blood pressure are now reported globally by those in close proximity to wind

developments.

In a news release today from Australia, Dr. Laurie, Medical Director of

The Waubra Foundation states: ¡°I have now interviewed over 40 people in rural

Australia who have been affected by wind turbines, with the same symptoms.¡±

What happens to a home located too close to industrial wind turbines, according

to , is virtually the same as sick building syndrome, which was

well documented in the 1980¡äs. According to Air & Waste Management Association

in a 2008 article on Sick Building Syndrome 2008, ¡°Very low frequency sounds

can also cause vibrations that fall in the range of inaudible infrasound¡ªunder

20 hertz (Hz). The vibration resonates through building materials, typically

causing headaches and dizziness.¡± LFN from industrial wind turbines penetrates

buildings such as homes as well as barns where livestock stay. It permeates the

structure with low frequency resonances that are felt though not necessarily

heard and can only be measured with the correct equipment.

In Ontario the current minimum distance for wind turbines from homes in quiet

rural areas is 550 metres. This distance is based on entirely computer generated

noise modelling which is published by wind turbine manufacturers. According to

Dr. Salt, that 550m distance legislated to protect health is ¡°absolutely

insane¡±.

Another physician who attended the symposium, Dr. Noel Kerin, Director and

Corporate Secretary, Occupational and Environmental Medical Association of

Canada (OEMAC) is shocked by these findings. ¡°First we had tobacco, then

asbestos, and urea formaldehyde, and now wind turbines. Don¡¯t we ever learn?

Our public health system should be screaming the precautionary principle. The

very people who are sworn to protect us have abandoned the public.

Proceedings from the International Symposium on Adverse Health Effects and

Industrial Wind Turbines can be found at www.windvigilance.com