WIND farms are not bad for your health. That is the official opinion of Victorian Chief Health Officer John Carnie.
But this has outraged those who claim to suffer health-effects from wind turbine noise
A spokesman for Dr Carnie last week dismissed concerns that noise from turbines was affecting the health of residents living near wind farms.
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"There's nothing to suggest there is an issue from a human health point of view," the spokesman said.
"Validated and peer-reviewed international research consistently demonstrates that health issues associated with wind farms are negligible."
But anti-wind farm group Australian Landscape Guardians president Randall Bell rejected the comments as "absolute rubbish".
"This is really quite a put down of all those people who have suffered what is commonly known as wind turbine syndrome," Mr Bell said.
"If the argument is that it (the evidence) is all anecdotal, then it was anecdotal with asbestos and it was anecdotal in the beginning with tobacco too."
Mr Bell said he had heard from rural residents across southeast Australia, complaining of ill-health after wind turbines were built near their homes.
In September last year, The Weekly Times reported complaints by residents near Acciona Energy's 128-turbine wind farm at Waubra of illness caused by noise from turbines.
Dr Carnie's comments on wind turbines came to light after Worksafe submitted a letter last month to a planning panel investigating the proposed Berrybank Wind Energy Facility between Colac and Ballarat.
In that letter, Worksafe chief executive Greg Tweedly referred to the Department of Human Services' view on wind farms.
"(The Department) has determined that the weight of evidence indicates that there are no direct health effects from noise (audible and inaudible) at the levels generated by modern turbines," Mr Tweedly wrote.
Asked by The Weekly Times to comment on the Department's position, a spokesman for Victorian Health Minister Daniel Andrews said: "The Minister's view on the matter is he would and does take advice from the Chief Health Officer."
A spokesman said for Worksafe said it had written to the panel investigating the Berrybank wind farm at the request of panel chair Nick Wimbush.
The spokesman said it was the Chief Health Officer who had the "technical knowledge and capacity" to examine issues such as the potential health impacts of wind turbines.
