Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Buffalo must investigate wind turbine syndrome

As Buffalo considers the “benefits” of erecting wind turbines within city limits, it must openly and objectively assess the negative consequences. The presence of 400-foot-tall towers will impact community character and scenic vistas. The noise created by wind turbines will be a nuisance. Most troubling, however, is the growing body of medical research establishing that infrasound produced by wind turbines, that is, the low frequency “noise” or vibration that we cannot hear, adversely affects human health.

Dr. Nina Pierpont, an upstate New York physician and scientist, has extensively studied the often debilitating symptoms experienced by adults and children living near large industrial wind turbines. The symptoms, which Pierpont calls “wind turbine syndrome,” include sleep disturbance, headache, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, ringing in the ear, visual blurring, rapid heart rate and problems with concentration and memory.

She has concluded that low-frequency noise or vibration produced by wind turbines tricks the body’s balance system into thinking it is moving. People with a prior history of migraines, motion sickness or inner-ear damage are especially vulnerable to “wind turbine syndrome.”

The medical community, nationally and internationally, is taking Pierpont’s research and findings seriously. Buffalo officials must do the same.

Arthur J. Giacalone

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