Ontario's Chief Medical Officer concludes that wind farms do not cause adverse health effects

"According to the scientific evidence, there isn't any direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects," concludes Dr. Arlene King, Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health, in a new report.

The report was based on a literature review of existing scientific evidence on the potential health impact of wind turbines. Its main conclusions are the following:

• While some people living near wind turbines report symptoms such as dizziness, headaches, and sleep disturbance, the scientific evidence available to date does not demonstrate a direct causal link between wind turbine noise and adverse health effects.
• The sound level from wind turbines at common residential setbacks is not sufficient to cause hearing impairment or other direct adverse health effects. However, some people might find it annoying. It has been suggested that annoyance may be a reaction to the characteristic "swishing" or fluctuating nature of wind turbine sound rather than to the intensity of sound.
• Low frequency sound and infrasound from current generation upwind model turbines are well below the pressure sound levels at which known health effects occur. Further, there is no scientific evidence to date that vibration from low frequency wind turbine noise causes adverse health effects.
• Community engagement at the outset of planning for wind turbines is important and may alleviate health concerns about wind farms.
• Concerns about fairness and equity may also influence attitudes towards wind farms and allegations about effects on health. These factors deserve greater attention in future developments.

Similar conclusions drawn in an earlier study prepared for the American Wind Energy Association and Canadian Wind Energy Association. The authors of that study were somewhat more pithy than Dr. King, concluding that "annoyance is not a disease."

While helpful, the Chief Medical Officer's new report will likely not placate wind farm opponents in the province. We anticipate that the alleged health effects of wind turbines will remain at issue as developers seeking renewable energy approvals ("REAs") and may be asserted as grounds for appealing REAs before the Environmental Review Tribunal.