Health risks from wind farms identified in 2009 but governments still ignore them

Noise and vibration coming from large turbines are behind an increase in heart disease, migraine, panic attacks and other health problems, according to research by an American doctor.

As reported by The Independent in 2009, living too close to wind turbines can cause heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines and sleep deprivation, according to research published by Dr. Nina Pierpont, a leading New York paediatrician.

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Dr. Pierpoint, a fellow of the American Academy of Paediatrics, trained at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and earned her PhD in Population Biology from Princeton.

She studied symptoms of people living near wind turbines in the US, the UK, Italy, Ireland and Canada for more than five years.  As a result of her study, she identified a new health risk: Wind Turbine Syndrome (“WTS”), the disruption or abnormal stimulation of the inner ear’s vestibular system by turbine infrasound and low-frequency noise.

The most distinctive feature of WTS is a group of symptoms which Dr. Pierpont calls visceral vibratory vestibular disturbance (“VVVD”). They cause problems ranging from internal pulsation, quivering, nervousness, fear, a compulsion to flee, chest tightness and tachycardia – increased heart rate. Turbine noise can also trigger nightmares and other disorders in children as well as harm cognitive development in the young, she claimed. However, Dr. Pierpont also made it clear that not all people living close to turbines are susceptible.

In late 2009, she published a 66-page book titled ‘Wind Turbine Syndrome’. Those pushing the World Economic Forum/United Nations’ climate change agenda claim wind energy is a “clean, green, renewable.” Wind is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry and those who stand to make a lot of money from it wouldn’t want negative health or environmental impacts to get in their way.  So it was bad news for them when Dr. Pierpont’s peer-reviewed report revealed wind’s dirty little secret.

The rapidly spinning blades can produce a weak but distinctive noise, as well as disruptions in air pressure. The noise is generated by the movement of the blades through the air, as well as from the turbine machinery. Infrasound is sound that is lower in frequency than 20 Hz or cycles per second. That’s the “normal” limit of human hearing.

Many people living within 1.25 miles, or 2 km, of these spinning giants get sick. So sick that they often abandon – as in, lock the door and leave – their homes. Nobody wants to buy their acoustically toxic homes. The “lucky ones” get quietly bought out by the wind developers – who steadfastly refuse to acknowledge that WTS exists. The wind developers “thoughtfully” include a confidentiality clause in the sales agreement, forbidding their victim from discussing the matter further.

Dr. Pierpont told The Independent:After publishing her book in late 2009, Pierpont heard from people around the world who were discovering that WTS is not confined to living in the shadow of industrial wind turbines (“IWTs”). It turns out people suffer identical symptoms from living close to natural gas compressor stations, industrial sewage pumping stations, industrial air conditioners, and other power plants. In each case, low-frequency noise and infrasound appear to be the chief disease-causing culprit – basically, WTS without the turbines.

In the UK, The Independent noted,  Dr. Christopher Hanning, founder of the British Sleep Society, who backed her research, said: “Dr. Pierpont’s detailed recording of the harm caused by wind turbine noise will lay firm foundations for future research. It should be required reading for all planners considering wind farms.

The Daily Mail noted that in 2009 there were 219 wind farms in Britain, and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband had plans for around 4,000 extra turbines to be installed.

Should The Independent’s article disappear from public view we have downloaded a copy and attached it below.

Are-wind-farms-a-health-risk-US-scientistThe-Independent-Download

In 2013, three Canadians – a family physician, a retired pharmacist and a management accountant – published an article about the adverse health effects of IWTs. The authors stated that physicians can expect to see increasing numbers of rural patients reporting adverse effects from exposure to IWTs.

In its 2009 article, The Independent noted: “Until now, the Government and the wind companies have denied any health risks associated with the powerful noises and vibrations emitted by wind turbines.”

In 2018, the World Health Organisation updated its noise guidelines for Europe:

Despite this, the denial of health risks of wind turbines continues. For example, SP Wind, the sole business of which is to provide training for personnel working in the wind industry, states on its website that the symptoms of WTS are psychological:

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