Date: November 28^th, 2018

Human Health and the Environment
Assessment and Management of Chronic Complex Conditions
13069 Keele Street
King City, Ontario
L7B 1G1

 

Premier Hon. Doug Ford, Etobicoke North Premier's Office, Room 281, Queen's Park, Toronto, ON M7A 1A1, [email protected]

Hon. Toby Barrett, Haldimand-Norfolk, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, Whitney Block, Room 6522, Toronto, ON M7A 1W3, [email protected]

Hon. Raymond Sung Joon Cho, Scarborough North, Minister for Seniors and Accessibility

Frost Building South, 6th Floor - 7 Queen's Park Cres., Toronto, ON M7A 1Y7, [email protected]

Hon. Christine Elliott, Newmarket—Aurora, Minister of Health and Long-Term Care,

Hepburn Block, 10th Floor 80 Grosvenor St., Toronto, ON M7A 1E9, [email protected]

Hon. Ernie Hardeman—Oxford, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 11th Floor, 77 Grenville St., Toronto, ON M5S 1B3, [email protected]

Hon. Monte McNaughton Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, Minister of Infrastructure

Hearst Block 8th Floor, 900 Bay St., Toronto, ON M7A 2E1, [email protected]

Hon. Rod Phillips Ajax, Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks

Ferguson Block. 11th Floor, 77 Wellesley St. W, Toronto, ON M7A 2T5, [email protected]

Hon. Greg Rickford Kenora—Rainy River, Minister of Energy, Northern Development and Mines

Whitney Block, 5th Floor. 99 Wellesley St. W., Toronto, ON M7A 1W1, [email protected]

Hon. Todd Smith, Bay of Quinte, Minister of Government and Consumer Services

Mowat Block, 6th Floor, 900 Bay St., Toronto, ON M7A 1L2, [email protected]

Hon. Bill Walker, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, Government Caucus Office,

Room 251 Main Legislative Building, Queen's Park, Toronto, ON M7A 1A4, [email protected]

Hon. Sam Oosterhoff, Niagara West, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Education

Mowat Block, 22nd Floor, 900 Bay St., Toronto, ON M7A 1L2, [email protected]

Hon. Rick Nicholls, Chatham-Kent—Leamington, Deputy Speaker Room 440,Main Legislative Building, Queen's Park,Toronto, ON M7A 1A8, [email protected]

Dr. David Williams, BSc., MD, MHSc, FRCPS, Chief Medical Officer of Health, 5775 Yonge Street - 16th Floor, Toronto ON M7A 2E5 Canada, [email protected]

 

Dear Honourable Mr. Ford, Ministers, and MPPs, colleagues,

I am writing to express concern about the potential for harm for human health represented by Ontario’s Industrial Wind Turbines (IWTs) and their supporting infrastructure.

Research has demonstrated how various forms of pollutant from IWTs can adversely affect human health.¹ These include noise, infra-sound, dirty electricity, and ground current which can each, along with shadow flicker, contribute to ill-health among those who live near wind turbines.²

Havas and Colling’s research draw on Frey and Hadden’s work to note that “most people who live near wind turbines and complain of ill effects blame the effects on the noise generated by the turbines.”³ Indeed, research globally has suggested that noise from turbines does indeed contribute to ill-health, and the literature suggests best practices for IWT placement to avoid noise issues.^{4 5}

Havas and Colling also draw on existing research to note that “pressure waves at levels outside the range of human hearing can also have unpleasant side effects”. The combination of low-frequency noise and infra-sound may produce, in patients, “a set of symptoms that include depression, irritability, aggressiveness, cognitive dysfunction, sleep disorder, fatigue, chest pain/pressure, headaches, joint pain, nausea, dizziness, vertigo, tinnitus, stress, heart palpitations, and other symptoms.”⁶ This combination of symptoms has been described by Pierpont as ‘wind turbines syndrome’⁷ and elsewhere as vibroacoustic disease.^{8 9} They note how U.S. Military research has also demonstrated that acoustic infrasound can have dramatic and serious effects on human physiology.¹⁰ This research states that:

Acoustic, infrasound: very low frequency sound which can travel long distances and easily penetrate most buildings and vehicles. Transmission of long wave- length sound creates biophysical effects, nausea, loss of bowels, disorientation, vomiting, potential organ damage or death may occur. Superior to ultrasound because it is “inband,” meaning it does not lose its properties when it changes mediums such as air to tissue. By 1972 an infrasound generator had been built in France, which generated waves at 7Hz. When activated it made the people in range sick for hours.¹¹

A significant impact on human health from IWTs can also result from electromagnetic pollution. The inverters and other technologies present within the turbines generate high levels of electrical distortion on the 60HZ sine wave of electrical current put on to the electrical grid by the renewable source.¹² This research around high levels of electrical distortion is confirmed by research by the Wind Plant Collector System Design Working Group, a part-industry organization, and published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).¹³ Also resulting from power generation in IWTs are increased levels of ground current often measured as voltage and often described as ‘stray voltage.’¹⁴ The circulation of these levels of distorted high-frequency signals, also known in the vernacular as ‘dirty electricity,’ as well as ground current or stray voltage in areas extending kilometers beyond individual IWT sites can contribute to electromagnetic injury and sensitivity to electromagnetic emissions.

Sensitivity to EMF has been termed Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EHS).¹⁵ It is thought to occur in 3-20 per cent of our population and poses the greatest risk to patients with pre-existing cardiac, neurological, dermatological and immunological conditions.^{16 17 18 19 20} However, healthy individuals are often affected as well and those affected complain of sleep disturbances, headaches, fatigue and difficulty concentrating. Symptoms are reduced by avoidance measures. Long-term and serious health effects can also result for those not immediately experiencing initial sensitivity.^{21 22}

This cumulative effect of these various health impacting factors combined with the prevalence of IWTs across the province suggest that significant steps at various levels and in various areas need to be taken to:

 

1. widely acknowledge the potential risks that IWTs represent

2. fully respond to the thousands of demonstrated complaints of adverse effects of IWTs across the province²³

3. carefully measure noise, infrasound, and electromagnetic emissions in and around all of Ontario’s IWT installations

4. follow mitigative steps around electromagnetic pollution (high frequency distortion, ground current/stray voltage) as suggested by the wind industry’s own publications and by other non-invested experts

5. re-site IWTs to other locations without human populations when mitigation cannot be effectively undertaken

 

The risks for the short and long-term health of Ontarians of not undertaking such mitigating and remediating steps is significant.

Sincerely, Riina Bray

 

 

Riina I. Bray BAsc, MSc, MD, FCFP, MHSc

Medical Director, Environmental Health Clinic, Women’s College Hospital

Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Toronto

Cross-Appointment Dalla Lana School of Public Health

 

The author grants permission to post this letter for public viewing and sharing.

 

APPENDIX A

Summary of references in alphabetical order

 

Austrian Medical Association. (2012). Guideline of the Austrian Medical Association for the diagnosis and treatment of EMF- related health problems and illnesses (EMF syndrome) Consensus paper of the Austrian Medical Association’s EMF Working Group. Vienna, Austria: Austrian Medical Association. Retrieved from http://www.magdahavas.com/wordpress/wp- content/uploads/2012/06/Austrian-EMF-Guidelines-2012.pdf

 

Baliatsas C, Van Kamp I, Lebret E, Rubin GJ. Idiopathic environmental intolerance attributed to electromagnetic fields (IEI-EMF): a systematic review of identifying criteria. BMC Public Health 2012, 12:643.

 

Belpomme, D., Campagnac, C., & Irigaray, P. (2015). Reliable disease biomarkers characterizing and identifying electrohypersensitivity and multiple chemical sensitivity as two etiopathogenic aspects of a unique pathological disorder. Reviews on Environmental Health, 30(4), 251–271.

Johansson, O. (2015). Electrohypersensitivity: a functional impairment due to an inaccessible environment. Reviews on Environmental Health, 30(4), 311–321.

 

Bevington,M.(2010). Electromagnetic-sensitivity and electromagnetic-hypersensitivity: A summary. London, England: Capability Books.

Bradt, M. Badrzadeh, E. Camm, D. Mueller, J. Schoene, T. Siebert, T. Smith, M. Starke, R. Walling (2012). Harmonics and Resonance Issues in Wind Power Plants. IEEE PES Wind Plant Collector System Design Working Group. IEEE. https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/6281633/
DOI: 10.1109/TDC.2012.6281633

 

Carpenter D. Human disease resulting from exposure to electromagnetic fields. Rev Environ Health 2013; 28(4):159-172.

 

Castelo Branco, N. A., & Alves-Pereira, M. (2004). Vibroacoustic disease. Noise & Health, 6(23), 3-20.

 

Chouard, C.-H. (2006). Le retentissement du fonctionnement des eoliennes sur la sante de l’homme [Repercussions of wind turbine operations on human health]. Panorama du medecin. Retrieved from http://ventdubocage.net/documentsoriginaux/ sante/eoliennes.pdf

 

Frey, B. J., & Hadden, P. J. (2007). Noise radiation from wind turbines installed near homes: Effects on health–With an annotated review of the research and related issues. Retrieved from http://docs.wind-watch.org/wtnoisehealth.pdf

 

Havas, M. and D. Colling (2011) Wind Turbines Make Waves: Why Some Residents Near Wind Turbines Become Ill. Bulletin of Science Technology & Society. 414-26. DOI: 10.1177/0270467611417852

 

McCarty, D. E., Carrubba, S., Chesson, A. L., Frilot, C., Gonzalez-Toledo, E., & Marino, A. A. (2011). Electromagnetic hypersensitivity: evidence for a novel neurological syndrome. The International Journal of Neuroscience, 121(12), 670–676.

 

Pall, M. L. (2014). Microwave electromagnetic fields act by activating voltage-gated calcium channels: why the current international safety standards do not predict biological hazard. Recent Res. Devel. Mol. Cell. Biol., (7).

 

Pierpont, N. (2009). Wind turbine syndrome: A report on a natural experiment. Santa Fe, NM: K-Selected Books.

 

Shepherd, D and Billington, R. (2011) Mitigating the Acoustic Impacts of Modern Technologies: Acoustic, Health, and Psychosocial Factors Informing Wind Farm Placement. Bulletin of Science Technology & Society. 389–398.

 

Slottje, P., van Moorselaar, I., van Strien, R., Vermeulen, R., Kromhout, H., & Huss, A. (2016). Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) in occupational and primary health care: A nation-wide survey among general practitioners, occupational physicians and hygienists in the Netherlands. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health. doi:10.1016/j.ijheh.2016.11.013