Thursday, August 06, 2009

Study says that living close to turbines causes catalogue of health issues

MUCH debate over wind turbines at last week's Fenland Council meeting preceded a newly-published study by a New York paediatrician who reckons living too near to them can cause heart disease, tinnitus, vertigo, panic attacks, migraines and sleep deprivation.

Quite a catalogue of health issues, your diarist concluded, as he delved into the Independent on Sunday's research into the five year study by Dr Nina Pierpoint.

The good doctor looked at symptoms displayed by people living near wind turbines not only in America and Europe but also in the UK and her findings have led her to confirm a new health risk, wind turbine syndrome (WTS).

It comes about, she reckons, through the disruption or abnormal stimulation of the inner ear's vestibular system by turbine infrasound and low frequency noise, the most distinctive feature of which is a group of symptoms she calls visceral vibratory vestibular disturbance, or VVVD.

"They cause problems ranging from internal pulsation, quivering, nervousness, fear, a compulsion to flee, chest tightness, and tachycardia- increased heart rate," says the Independent's Margaret Pagano.

"Turbine noise can also trigger nightmares and other disorders in children as well as harm cognitive development in the young."

(Click to read entire article)

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