Better Plan, Wisconsin

 What is Wind Turbine Syndrome?

Pediatric Physician Dr. Nina Pierpont has been researching the effects of living close to wind turbines on human health. Her completed study will be published in the next few months. Here is a summary of the report: (download a pdf of this abstract by clicking here)

    Wind Turbine Syndrome is a consistent, often debilitating, complex of symptoms which occur during residential exposure to large industrial wind turbines.
    Symptoms include sleep disturbance, headache, tinnitus [ringing in the ears], ear pressure, dizziness, vertigo, nausea, irritability, and problems with concentration and memory. Panic episodes associated with sensations of internal pulsation or quivering arise in the daytime or during sleep.

Symptom intensity varies in concert with the direction turbine blades are turned, the rate of spin, or the presence of certain sounds. Panic episodes show no statistical association with previous history of anxiety or other mental health disorders and a highly significant association with pre-existing motions sensitivity [car-sickness, motion sickness]. Headache shows a significant association with preexisting migraine disorder. Secondary clusters of symptoms involve the chest and eyes. 

Methods: Case series of 10 affected families with 38 members age 0-75 exposed to turbines erected since 2004. All adults were interviewed and information obtained on all family members in a pre-exposure, during exposure, post exposure format.
Five families moved away from their homes within 6 weeks before the interviews or between the first and second interviews, one family significantly reduced its time in the home 3 months before the interviews, and other families spent periods of time away from the home during exposure.

Conclusions: Core symptoms of Wind Turbine Syndrome are best explained as a vibratory disturbance of thoracic organs creating a disturbance to position and motion sense via visceral graviceptors. Anxiety and panic arise in previously unaffected but motion sensitive people due to direct neurologic linkages between balance and position sense and brain centers mediating fear, anxiety, autonomic effects and adversive learning. There are also direct effects on ears. Secondary symptom clusters suggest other effects on tissues inside body resonant spaces, but require further research. Syndrome recognition is important for control of turbine placement and compensation of affected persons.

NOTE FROM THE RESEARCH NERD:Read what it's like to live near industrial wind turbines:   (Download a pdf of noise log of a Wisconsin family living amid industrial windturbines by clicking here) 

Visit the website of the wind developer who proposes to place 67 turbines in Magnolia township and 3 in Union township by clicking here The picture above is from their website.