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Halt new wind turbines pending fed study findings
The new study will look at not only "injury and disease" effects, but also other impacts wind turbines are blamed for. It will take into account the World Health Organization's definition of health as "a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity." Canada's wind energy producers have said they welcome Health Canada's study. They should also accept until it is done, they will have to hold off on new projects.
Credit: By Jim Hendry, QMI Agency | www.lfpress.com 12 July 2012 ~~
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Now that Health Canada has announced the first comprehensive, made-in-Canada review of the health impacts of wind turbines, Ontario should halt construction of any new turbines.
Accusations the large electricity generators make people who live near them sick have been flying since the McGuinty government included wind turbines in its plan to encourage and subsidize “clean” electricity generation.
The Liberals’ response has been that global studies show no concrete link between noise and vibration created by the giant revolving blades and illness among people who live near them.
Now the feds, through Health Canada, have decided to see for themselves.
A description on Health Canada’s website indicates its study should be strong enough to be accepted as the final word. People living in 2,000 homes between 500 metres and five km from eight to 12 different wind farms will be studied. The public has a month to comment on the study methods before it actually begins, and eventual results will be peer-reviewed.
Health Canada expects to publish results in 2014. That would mean a two-year moratorium on construction of wind turbines and any new approvals, something the Liberals should accept.
Until now it was possible to point to research done elsewhere as the best, and only, evidence of the safety or hazards of wind turbines.
That approach dismissed many accounts by people, some from Ontario, who say they became ill after turbines went up near their homes.
By taking its own look, Health Canada has changed the standard. It is a respected, reliable public agency.
On the other side, turbine opponents should be on notice to accept Health Canada’s findings–whichever side they fall on.
The new study will look at not only “injury and disease” effects, but also other impacts wind turbines are blamed for. It will take into account the World Health Organization’s definition of health as “a state of physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of disease or infirmity.”
Canada’s wind energy producers have said they welcome Health Canada’s study. They should also accept until it is done, they will have to hold off on new projects.
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