You may have read reports that some people claim to suffer at the hands of those clean machines, wind turbines. Many claims are, of course, false and dreamed up by Nimbys (Not In My Back Yard!) fans of fossil fuels and those in thrall to petroleum potentates. But for a small number of people their sleep deprivation, depression, hypertension and even heart attacks appear to be caused by proximity to wind turbines. Is there any truth in that?
Well, here’s your answer: An Australian study has identified an explanation for these illnesses. They are caused by anti-wind farm campaigners. I don’t mean that such campaigners are going around poisoning the water, making noises at night, or otherwise directly interfering in the lives of those near wind turbines. The study said that the sickness is most likely the result of people becoming alarmed by the rhetoric and health warning scares circulated by anti-wind campaigners. For example, the health symptoms only appeared in Australia after anti-turbine campaigners began their antics, in 2009. Before then, in Australia, people had been co-existing quite happily with wind farms.
Professor of Public Health, Simon Chapman, of Sydney University said that it was a sociological phenomenon. Accepting that some people genuinely displayed symptoms, he said:
“Where you set up an expectation in people that something in their environment is noxious, that can translate into an expression of symptoms.”
In other words, the spreading of rumour and fears about health risks connected to wind turbines has bored deep into some people’s psyche and caused psychosomatic evidence to confirm their fears. Just as in the same way voodoo works because someone has been told a witch doctor has cast a spell on you, you either create the symptoms in yourself or blame pre-existing symptoms on the curse.
Not surprisingly these findings are disputed by anti-wind campaigners. Perhaps they should try spreading rumours about that wind farms are not only good for the economy and the planet, but also good for your health!
