A new Victorian Department of Health review gives wind farms the tick of approval when it comes to public health.
The Department of Health review investigated the potential for infrasound to adversely affect human health. The review supports the findings of existing studies, yet peer-reviewed evidence dismissing such concerns hasn't stopped anti-wind farm campaigners who frequently claim inaudible sound from wind turbines causes wide array of health problems.
The latest review concludes "there is no evidence that sound which is at inaudible levels can have a physiological effect on the human body."
As it turns out, infrasound is not something new to human experience. "[T]here are many sources of infrasound in the environment and it is even produced by the human body, at much greater levels than infrasound from external sources such as wind farms," the review notes. "Humans have been exposed to high levels of infrasound throughout our evolution, with no apparent effects."
Given the prominence of the infrasound argument in the wind energy debate, the review has gained a substantial amount of media coverage.
"[The review] shows a lot of the claims made that wind farms damage peoples health are not accurate," VicWind coordinator Andrew Bray told The Courier.
Leigh Ewbank of VicWind member organisation Friends of the Earth supported this view in comment made the The Weekly Times. Ewbank asks "How many studies will it take before anti-wind farm campaigners stop spreading fear about this clean, renewable energy source?"
For more coverage of the Department of Health review, see: