CANADA—Last week, Health Canada released its landmark Wind Turbine Noise and Health Study which the ministry called “the most comprehensive study of its kind,” finding that there are no ill effects on health for those living within close proximity of wind turbines, but local wind farm opponents say the study is flawed.
Health Canada, in partnership with Statistics Canada, conducted the study between residents of southern Ontario and Prince Edward Island (PEI), where turbines are prevalent, “to better understand the impacts of wind turbine noise on health and well-being,” a press release states. A total of 1,238 households participated out of a possible 1,570.
The study was comprised of three parts: an in-person questionnaire given to randomly selected participants living at various distances from wind turbines; a collection of physical health measures that assessed stress levels using hair cortisol, blood pressure and resting heart rate as well as measures of sleep quality; and more than 4,000 hours of wind turbine noise measurements conducted by Health Canada to support calculations of wind turbine noise levels in all homes in the study.
Health Canada broke the findings into five parts: illness and chronic disease, stress, sleep, annoyance and quality of life and noise.
Under illness and chronic disease, Health Canada states, “no evidence was found to support a link between exposures to wind turbine noise and any of the self-reported illnesses (such as dizziness, tinnitus, migraines) and chronic conditions (such as heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes).
Under the heading of stress, Health Canada states no association was found between the multiple measures of stress (such as hair cortisol, blood pressure, heart rate, self-reported stress) and exposure to wind turbine noise.
As for sleep, “the results of this study do not support an association between wind turbine noise and self reported or measured sleep quality.” However, the study states, while some people reported some of the aforementioned health conditions, their existence was not found to change in relation to exposure to wind turbine noise.
An association was found, however, between increasing levels of wind turbine noise and individuals reporting to be “very or extremely annoyed,” the report continues. “No association was found with any significant changes in reported quality of life or with overall quality of life and satisfaction with health.” This was assessed using the abbreviated version of the World Health Organization’s Quality of Life Scale.
Lastly, under noise, calculated noise levels were found to be below levels that would be expected to directly affect health, according to the World health Organization Community Noise Guidelines, 1999.
The study locations were drawn from areas in Ontario and PEI where there were a sufficient number of homes within the vicinity of wind turbine installations. Twelve and six wind turbine developments were sampled in Ontario and PEI, representing 315 and 84 wind turbines, respectively. All potential homes within approximately 600 metres of a wind turbine were selected, as well as a random selection of homes between 600 metres and 10 kilometres.
In a Monday interview with The Expositor, Ray Beaudry, president of the Manitoulin Coalition for Safety Energy Alternatives Inc., called the study “a slap in the face of the people who are suffering.”
He said the study seems to be industry-led due to what he calls the push for turbines by the government, noting that the study participants did not include those “forced out of their homes” from ill health due to turbines.
“It hasn’t been researched by peer reviewed articles either,” he said. “It’s just a summary, not fully reviewed.”
Mr. Beaudry said his family has filed 41 noise complaints citing vibration, amplitude, grinding gears and high pitched noises, to name just a few of the disturbances, none of which have been answered by the Ministry of Environment.
“It’s the mandate of the government to push these things through,” he added.
Following the release of the study last week, Wind Concerns Ontario announced they would be convening an expert panel to review the findings.
