AMA Position Statement needs to be withdrawn and an apology proffered 

The AMA Position Statement needs to be withdrawn and an apology proffered to people whose integrity is being sullied by such a thoughtless, ill-researched Position Statement.

‘Do no harm’ is a primary principal of the medical profession and with this Position Statement you harm people who live with and/or have lived with, and are adversely affected by wind turbines. The AMA provides no list of research, no references, no authors, just the usual regurgitation of wind industry spin. And we certainly know that it is spin because it has been shoved down our throats from the Industry and those who accept without question or analysis, large-scale, for-profit Corporations’ word, for the benign and beneficial of its’ product. We understand that people can be gullible, can lack analytic rigor and objective enquiry, can be ignorant, can be lazy, may not want the world as they know it to be challenged, can be blinded by their want to believe, their faith or desire to save the world, however we do not expect this from what is supposed to be a Peak Body for Medical Professionals.

We live on the northern edge of the Waubra Windfarm and are tired, worn-out, had enough – sleep disruption for nearly 5 years (since the commencement of operation of the Waubra Wind Farm) takes its toll: as does the ongoing denigration and disrespect that is, yet again, demonstrated in this Position Statement’s absolute lack of professional responsibility to cite adequate research, references or authorship; or report other organisations, such as the NHMRC, research with transparency and honesty; or bother to do any primary research.

With this lack of professional responsibility the AMA contributes to the thoughtless proliferation of spin that does so much harm to people, to fellow human beings. I know that some doctors often dislike patients who talk about their symptoms with clarity and might proffer notions about what might be happening to their bodies and minds, but surely the medical profession has a responsibility to listen to people who are experiencing ill health and to discover what is actually going on before proposing theories, that are as yet only unsubstantiated theories. But of course, the AMA has not actually asked for, listen to, or heeded what people who are experiencing this, say. So much easier to not give them an opportunity to have their voice heard, or if their case is put forward just simply to not listen. Strangely similar strategy to the Wind Industry! We do not live in a democratic society where all voices are equally heard and listened to when it is the people who have money and/or power, whose opinions are listened to, even if it is unsubstantiated twaddle.

We will not even bother to provide rebuttals to your thoughtless, ill-considered, poorly researched hypotheses about why people are experiencing adverse health effects, because there is ample testimony from across the world publicly available. Has the AMA actually read it? Has the AMA actually spoken to people who are experiencing these adverse effects? Has there been any effort on the AMA’s part to see and speak with doctors who are treating patients for these adverse health effects? Has the AMA provided an independent forum for them to speak? Although, why would any doctor or person risk the obvious denigration and ridicule that would be dumped on them by speaking out to their Peak Body, judging by the tone of this Position Statement.

We know that there is a very high probability that we will not be listened to, by you doctors – the AMA, ‘who always know best’. Heaven help your patients! We thought paternalistic doctoring was a thing of the past, but obvious from this, it is not so. We just hope that you might usually lend an ear and an open-mind to your patients, because certainly you will not discover anything if you don’t. Fortunately many of us are treated by doctors, doctors who know us, listen us, are familiar with our medical records and the changes they have seen in the past few years. They know what is happening and are a beacon within the dim lights of the Medical Profession as represented by the AMA.

There are still many things in the world that we do not understand, do not know how it works or why. Science has not as yet probed every corner of the Universe to provide answers. Science is not about assumptions supported by self-interested corporations, it is about carefully gathered data and evidence. It is about an open mind – a hypotheses must be tested before it can be claimed to be fact. There is so little research in this area, there is so little known and substantiated about how this all works, that it is astonishing that the AMA can place its good name and scientific credentials on line. And yet the AMA has. What foolhardy arrogance!

Noise – sound and vibration – Pollution has significant adverse health effects, especially at night, especially in the rural environment, for people living near various Industrial complexes – coal, wind, flightpaths, freight trains. We know that people in urban environments are also exposed to noise pollution and can curse the air-conditioner outside their window as it chugs along all of the hot night, or the heating unit, or trains or trams, which just might be feet away from their bedroom window.

All we have ever asked for since 2009, when we began experiencing adverse health effects, is independent, multi-disciplinary research, not more mindless mouthing of Industry spin, or of conservative division tactics, such as George Bush proferred – ‘you’re either for us or agin us’, to serve large-scale corporations bottom-line profits or political agendas. Let us not silence, not censor the people demanding that this research be undertaken and act with open-minded transparency to ensure that research is undertaken for all people who live with sound and vibration pollution.

No doubt, considering this appalling Statement, you will have countless emails from all over the world along these lines, from people who are experiencing adverse effects, from professionals who are undertaking research, from doctors who have treated, and are treating patients.

We would like to know who the authors of this position statement are and what are their credentials; a list of the research undertaken and the references.

We would very much like to hear from you regarding what efforts the AMA has made to provide safe, open-minded and transparent opportunities for medical professionals and patients , who have some experience with living with ‘windfarms’, to provide testimony and evidence. We look forward to hearing from you at the earliest opportunity about your ‘best practice’ efforts.

We also look forward to the retraction of the AMA position statement and a public apology to those people the AMA have harmed from across the world, through the publication and broad dissemination of this flawed Position Statement.

We look forward to a prompt response.

Regards

Berni M Janssen, Evansford
Noel Thomas, Waubra
Enid Thomas, Waubra
Donald Thomas, Evansford
Kim Thomas, Evansford
Gunther Wilhelm , Evansford

31 March 2014