RACHEL WATSON
AN action group is encouraging people who believe wind farms have had a
negative impact on their health to pursue legal action on the grounds that
Scottish ministers failed to protect them.
Pressure group Winds for Justice, supported by former Conservative MEP
Struan Stevenson, has been set up to back legal bids against wind farms,
including those in the planning stages, which are thought to pose a threat
to public health.
Mr Stevenson believes that dozens of schemes have been approved in breach
of the Aarhus Convention, a European law stipulating the public has a right
to live in a healthy environment.
Some scientific studies have suggested that low-level noise – infrasound –
emitted by the giant turbines can deprive people living nearby of sleep.
However, the Scottish Government insists that there is no direct evidence
of a “causal link” to ill health from wind farms.
Andrew Vivers, a former Army captain, who lives close to the Ark Hill wind
farm in Angus, believes his health has deteriorated in recent years because
of wind turbines.
Despite this Mr Vivers fears that many, like him, will be unable to afford
to take legal action.
He said: “There are many ways in which health can suffer, but people do not
automatically associate it with the wind farms.
“They can lead to high blood pressure and affect the immune system too,
lowering it and making people more susceptible to other conditions.
“I was getting headaches and dizziness, and I had sleep deprivation, too.”
A government spokesman said that a review of international research had
found “no clear evidence of a causal link between the operation of wind
turbines and adverse health effects.
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