Summary of recent observations of adverse health effects from wind developments 

Recent field observations

• Ongoing data collection from multiple Wind Developments across SE Australia
• Includes information from following sources:
  • interviews with affected residents
  • medical records
  • treating physicians
  • personal health journals
  • acoustic monitoring inside homes

Summary of key findings

• Over 60 people interviewed so far
• Includes local residents, workers and visitors
• Symptoms characteristic of exposure to wind turbines (never previously experienced) noted up to 10km away
  • Night time waking in panicked state
  • Body vibrations
• Symptoms ALWAYS worsen with increasing exposure over time
• Consistent with previous findings of Medical practitioners such as
  • Dr Amanda Harry (UK Rural Family Physician)
  • Dr David Iser (Australian Rural Family Physician)
  • Dr Nina Pierpont (US Paediatrician)
  • Dr Robert McMurtry in the Society for Wind Vigilance community health survey
• Many symptoms were known to, and reported by Acousticians such as Dr Leventhall, prior to 2004, in situations of known infrasound & low frequency noise (ILFN) exposure (Report for DEFRA by Dr G Leventhall, Dr P Pelmear & Dr S Benton May 2003, “A review of Published Research on Low Frequency noise and its Effects”)
• Symptoms start to resolve when
  • Turbines are off (especially if more than 24 hours)
  • People move away from turbines

  BUT

• People “sensitized” with prolonged exposure then notice symptoms with other sources of ILFN
  • Pumps
  • Heating & Cooling compressors/ventilation systems

Health problems identified

• Preexisting medical conditions which worsen with wind turbine exposure
  • Hypertension (high blood pressure)
  • Angina
  • Diabetes
  • Tinnitus
  • Migraines
• Severe Chronic Sleep Deprivation (multiple causes which include)
  • Audible turbine noise
  • Waking in a panicked state, wide awake, sometimes on multiple occasions every night
  • Increased nocturnal urination
  • Children’s sleep problems
  • Bed vibrating
• Severe Frequent Headaches
  • Head “in a vice”
  • Children with no previous history of headaches
  • Migraines triggered, especially from shadow flicker
  • Visual Blurring
    • Only occurring with turbine operation
    • Visual checks by health practitioners normal
  • Tinnitus (ringing or buzzing, one or both ears)
  • Ear pressure sensations (painful at times, especially if previous eardrum surgery)
  • Hyperacusis (extreme sensitivity to ‘normal’ sounds)
  • Balance disturbance (especially in elderly)
  • Motion sickness/vertigo like symptoms
  • Nausea (severe)
  • Irritability, extreme anger and other mood disturbances (also being reported in workers)
  • Memory & Cognitive deficits (worsening over time)
  • Depression, at times life threatening
  • Anxiety
  • Body vibrations
  • Tachycardias & arrhythmias (fast & irregular heartbeats)

  Additional clinical observations

  • Reports emerging of two specific clinical illnesses known to be caused by surges of adrenaline occurring with exposure to wind turbines (and other sources of ILFN)
    • Tako Tsubo heart attacks
    • Acute Hypertensive Crises
  • Limited animal studies confirm infrasound exposure can result in adrenaline surges (NIEHS Toxicology of Infrasound report 2001)
  • ILFN induced Sympathetic nervous system stimulation, via Vestibular stimulation or direct stimulation of the brain, is experienced ACUTELY by the person affected as:
    • Tachycardia (fast heart beat)
    • Elevated blood pressure including acute hypertensive episodes
    • Tako Tsubo heart attack episodes
    • Nighttime waking in a panicked state
    • Acutely anxious feelings
    • Unmasking of previous PTSD symptoms (but either well controlled or in abeyance at time of initial exposure to wind turbines)
  • Observations of new onset hypertension (high blood pressure) with turbine operation
  • Multiple causative mechanisms likely, probably concurrent (Qibai and Shi (2007) The Effects of Low Frequency Noise and Vibration on People [ed Prof C. Hansen] An Investigation on the Physiological and Psychological Effects of Infrasound on Persons 303-310)
    • Infrasound (experimental studies have shown this effect, via direct or indirect (vestibular) stimulation of sympathetic nervous system ‘fight–flight’)
    • Stress
    • Sleep Deprivation

  Predictors of onset & severity
  Predictors of Rapid Onset of Severe Symptoms of Wind turbine Syndrome (WTS) appear to be

  • Living downwind of a line of turbines (cumulative impact)
  • Presence of ground borne (seismic) vibrations
    • Beds vibrating
    • Glass of water vibrating

  Other reports of residential overnight exposure to ILFN

  • Overnight exposure to ILFN seems particularly damaging to health
  • Others who have developed similar health problems including Tako Tsubo Heart attacks, sleep deprivation and high blood pressure which start to partially resolve when exposure ceases
    • Residents in suburban Melbourne next to industrial chillers at Melbourne University
    • Residents 5km away from open cut coal mining activities active at night (diesel machinery)

  Links to vibro acoustic disease

  • Substantial body of work by Professor Mariana Alves Pereira & Dr Nuno Castelo Branco over 30 years in Portugal
  • Serious health concerns (VAD) with chronic exposure to ILFN (variety of sources)
  • Based on their recent work, levels of measured ILFN inside homes near wind developments will result in VAD in residents

  Tissue vibro acoustic diseaserved in VAD

  • Thickened collagen, resulting in
    • Decreased lumen of blood vessels (arteries)
    • Thickening of exterior lining of the heart (pericardium)
  • Malignant tumours in the sole autopsy case
    • (patients with WTS have been noted to have elevated cortisol which will certainly decrease the body’s own immunity and ability of the immune system to eradicate abnormal cells over time)
  • Professor Alves Pereira also described collagen pathology found in horses on the farm in Portugal, using a case control design
    • Ie, collagen changes are “cross species”, adding further weight to the evidence of a biological causal effect of ILFN on tissue with chronic exposure

  The relationship between WTS & VAD

  • I think Dr Pierpont is right, in stating as she did in Ontario that maybe we should call WTS “ILFN syndrome”
  • Acousticians for years have been calling these symptoms “annoyance” without Medical Clinicians realising that there are serious health problems emerging with acute and chronic exposure (with a few notable exceptions such as Dr Harry, Dr Iser, Dr Pierpont & Dr Castelo Branco)
  • My conclusions
    • There are multiple pathophysiological mechanisms causing the pathology we are seeing
    • There is a difference between the effects and therefore the symptoms of acute exposure (WTS) and chronic exposure (VAD)
    • There may be a synergistic effect eg angina
      • Acute effect – adrenaline surge leading to vasoconstriction
      • Chronic effect – collagen thickening producing structurally narrowed diameter of blood vessel
      • Both pathologies acting together will result in decreased blood flow to the heart muscle

  Acoustics field data from inside Noel Dean’s bedroom, Waubra

  

  

  Mechanisms for harm to health

  • KNOWN – audible noise
  • HIGHLY LIKELY – Infrasound & low frequency noise
    • Airborne pulsations
    • Resonance within dwellings
    • Seismic (ground borne) vibrations
  • POSSIBLE – Electromagnetic radiation effects
  • OTHER?

  What we know already

  • Chronic severe sleep deprivation and high blood pressure are very damaging to health (extensive peer reviewed research)
  • Both are being identified as new health problems in residents adjacent to wind developments after commencement of turbine operation
  • Both are measurable

  These need to be investigated and quantified

  Research questions

  1. What is a ‘safe’ setback distance?
  2. What are the mechanisms of causation?

  [plus slides about the Waubra Foundation and its Research and Updates on NH&MRC workshop, 7th June, 2011 Canberra, and Australian Senate Inquiryreport tabled 14th June, 2011]

  Dr Sarah Laurie BMBS
  Medical Director, Waubra Foundation
  Presentation 14th June, 2011
  Cape Cod
  www.waubrafoundation.com.au

  Download original document: “Summary of Recent Field Observations of Adverse Health Effects from Wind Developments in Australia”