May 9, 2014
Australia

NHMRC says evidence scant in wind turbine health debate

By Jane Ryan | ABC Rural | 09 May 2014 | www.abc.net.au

An initial report from the National Health and Medical Research Council has found no reliable evidence that wind turbines have a direct physical effect on health.

But the key finding is that there is very little reliable research on the subject.

CEO Professor Warwick Anderson said of more than two and a half thousand investigations world wide, the report was only able to reference 11.

“There’s a lot of opinion and a lot of editorial comment around this, smaller studies of low scientific reliability,” he said.

“But it’s a topic of considerable interest to the public.”

He says while an independent research group considers 35 submissions responding to that initial draft, the claims around health impacts of wind turbines remain varied.

“The most common report is lack of sleep, and interfering with welling,” Professor Anderson said.

“But as our first report said there is no reliable evidence of direct physical affects on ill-health.

“We’re looking at the literature to see if there has been additional research,” he said.

“And physical health is only part of it, people can suffer lack of good physical health from stress.”

The review of submissions to the draft report is under-way and the final report is due out within the next few months.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/05/09/nhmrc-says-evidence-scant-in-wind-turbine-health-debate/