The National Health and Medical Research Council has found there is no reliable or consistent evidence that wind farms are directly responsible for negative health effects in humans.
The NHMRC released its draft Information Paper regarding evidence on the potential effects of wind farms on human health on Monday and is inviting public comment on its contents.
The review considered a wide range of evidence, including peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed (‘grey’) literature.
The report states while indirect effects of wind farms on human health through sleep disturbance, reduced sleep quality, quality of life and perhaps annoyance are possible; bias and confounding could be possible explanations for this. “Confounding” factors can include whether those affected found wind farms beautiful or an eyesore.
For example, on the issue of sleep, only one of the studies examined asked affected respondents whether they had improved sleep when away from wind turbines. Half of those living less than 1.4 kilometres from a wind turbine stated they did, compared with less than 6% of those who lived more than 3 kilometres from a wind turbine.
While annoyance is not a disease or health state, it was still considered relevant in the review because it is a human response to a condition or setting that may result in stress; which can then impact on health.
The Clean Energy Council says the document is an important step in reassuring communities living near wind farms that their health is not at risk; however the CEC says the process of winning hearts and minds is crucial when constructing wind power facilities.
“While there is mounting evidence that wind farms cannot directly cause health problems, the industry recognises the need to make communication and community engagement a high priority when building a wind farm,” said Clean Energy Council Policy Director Russell Marsh.
A hefty read at 200+ pages, the review of the human health effects of wind farms can be viewed in full here (PDF).
