Wind turbines and health problems
Earlier this month, Dr. Michael A. Nissenbaum, a radiologist at the Northern Maine Medical Center, conducted interviews with 15 people living near the industrial wind energy facility in Mars Hill, Maine.
Purpose of the interviews was to investigate and record the health effects on those living within 3,500 feet of industrial-scale turbines.
On March 25, Dr. Nissenbaum presented his preliminary findings before the Maine Medical Association. The data, which he characterized as alarming, suggest the residents are experiencing serious health problems related to shadow flicker and noise emissions from the turbines near their homes.
The onset of symptoms — including sleep disturbance, headaches, dizziness, weight changes, possible increases in blood pressure, as well as increased prescription medication use — all appear to coincide with the time when the turbines were first turned on (December 2006).
Every individual interviewed by Dr. Nissenbaum reported that his or her quality of life had been negatively affected by the turbines. The residents all expressed new or increased feelings of stress, anger, irritability, depression, anxiety, and hopelessness.
Quotes cited in the presentation included, “Nobody will help us.”; “No one cares.”; and, “It’s very hard watching my child suffer.”
While some deficiencies exist in the study (as Dr. Nissenbaum details in his presentation), aspects of his findings stand out as being immediately significant.
Dr. Nissenbaum asserted, “The results for sleep disturbance, headaches, anger, feelings of hopelessness, and incidence of depression symptomatology in this group are so high that despite the small number, and the lack of a control and tests of statistical significance, they jump out at physicians as obviously being significant. The statistical significance tests would just be confirmatory in this case — gilding the lily, if you will.”
He added, “I did not even get into the issue of the 16 children who live there. The World Health Organization has identified children, along with the elderly, as being particularly susceptible. This would require a fair amount of time, and special expertise, as children manifest in many ways besides, or instead of, simple sleep disturbance including disturbed learning, acting out, etc.
The medical staff of Northern Maine Medical Center released a statement in March calling for the careful siting of wind turbines. Dr. Nissenbaum included an excerpt from that statement in his presentation as follows:
“Maine has a vast, unpopulated hinterland. There is little need to site industrial wind developments in proximity to residential communities if there is a risk of negative health effects. Quality of life, quality of place, and a healthful environment should be the right of all residents of Maine, including those of the rural north.”
April 4, 2009
(Save God’s Country is a citizens group that formed in 2006 when plans to build industrial wind turbines in the high-altitude agriculture region of northern Potter County were announced. The organization submits this editorial from Industrial Wind Action Group to bolster its argument that turbines built too close to residences are a health hazard.)
Tags: Wind power, Wind energy, Noise
Some possibly related stories:
The copyright of this article is owned by the author or publisher indicated. Its availability here constitutes a "fair use" as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law as well as in similar "fair dealing" exceptions of the copyright laws of other nations, as part of National Wind Watch's effort to advance understanding of the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development. For more information, click here.
