Dr. David Colby, medical officer of health
in Chatham-Kent, is considered an expert on wind turbines and health and his
work is widely quoted in reports and during debates about the safety of
turbines. Free Press
reporter Norman De Bono goes one-on-one with Colby.
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Q: Is it frustrating to you that
the federal government has announced another study, this one to be done by
Health Canada, when so much research has been done on this issue?
It's not frustrating but I might question
whether it's a wise use of ... taxpayers' money. But let's face it, they are
under tremendous political pressure.
Q: You are cited as an expert on
the subject and have given testimony on the issue at hearings. What has your
research found?
My conclusion was the same as 16 other
reviews that have been done around the world. They all concluded noise from
wind turbines is at most an annoyance of small proportions to people and there
are no direct health effects.
Q: How do you explain, then, some
complaints of health issues?
There is a tremendous body of evidence
around sound and health, but if you have already decided wind turbines are bad
for your health, it is easy to pick holes in the literature. Acoustic energy
does not impact human tissue. It does not damage you in any way. It boils down
to the annoyance effect.
Q: Certainly you cannot dismiss
annoyance, as stress can have a major impact on health.
The argument wind advocates postulate is
that then an unforeseen force is causing illness. That has been discredited,
but lay people cling to it. If you are annoyed enough by what you see and hear,
it will produce stress and everyone knows stress is bad.
Q: In your research you cite
turbines may cause a "nacebo" effect in some. What is that?
Everyone knows about placebo effect, where
you feel better by taking a sugar pill. The nacebo effect is the belief there
is a worsening of physical health because of fear, (made even worse by media
heightening fears adding to stress).
Q: Are you suggesting some
health-related concerns may be caused by other factors, such as lifestyle?
Just because someone says "wind
turbines make me sick" it does not make it so. If someone is hysterical
about their health, humans are empathetic creatures and we will be impressed by
that and tend to believe it, even if science says it is not so.
Q: But a book has been written
about wind turbine syndrome.
There is no such thing as wind turbine
syndrome. It's the most spectacularly flawed piece of pseudo-science that I
have ever encountered. They took families all over the world who self-reported
their symptoms and were articulate in doing so. It's what started all this
nonsense.
Q: Has this issue affected you
personally?
Since I started speaking out on this, there
have been five complaints to the Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons
demanding I be silenced. If you can't argue the facts, the next step is to
attack personally. Those complaints have been dismissed. But I'm not a wind turbine
activist, I just looked at the evidence and drew my conclusions.
David
Colby also is an associate professor of pharmacy and pharmacology at Western
University. His cottage outside Chatham sits in the shadow of several wind
turbines.
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