Health impacts of wind turbines

This report presents the results of a rapid, desk based analysis of peer reviewed UK and international literature from the last four years on the effects of wind turbines on human health. The review covers literature specified by the Scottish government, peer-reviewed original studies and recent peer-reviewed literature reviews. Recent original studies consist mostly of cross-sectional studies and case studies on the effects of wind turbines on local residents. All studies present evidence for annoyance due to wind turbine noise and most concur that there is evidence for sleep disturbance in the presence of wind farms but not necessarily from noise. Both results are in agreement with the effects of noise from other environmental sources. Other health effects are increasingly reported in the presence of wind turbines but the reviewed literature does not provide firm scientific evidence of a causal relationship with wind turbines or even more specifically wind turbine noise. The most widely quoted cross-sectional studies show correlations between annoyance and visual impact, economic benefit and attitude related to wind turbines. Wind turbine sound is reported to be comparatively weakly related to annoyance and inseparable from the other contributing factors. Literature on low frequency noise and infrasound (LFIS) can be categorised as reviews, sound level measurements around windfarms and discussion of mechanisms of perception and response. A Swedish review finds no evidence to support ‘wind turbine syndrome’ while another concludes that further research is required. Regarding noise measurements, there are concerns that a new generation of wind turbines will produce a sound with a spectrum shifted down in frequency. However, a study in Australia concluded that infrasound levels near windfarms were no higher than elsewhere and that higher levels in urban areas were probably due to traffic and other human activity rather than wind turbines. Some other studies found measured sound levels near wind farms to conform with a range of criteria for LFIS. Papers by Salt et al. propose that LFIS may differentially stimulate structures in the human inner ear, and may instigate health effects even when inaudible. The authors seek to build a speculative case utilising experimental data gleaned from guinea pigs and some observations on human experiences with specific pathological conditions. Based upon the documents submitted, the proposal is unproven, and would need clear data from hypothesis driven independent research in humans in order to be credible. A proposal by US consultants that motion sickness-like symptoms reported at one wind farm might be caused by acoustic excitation of the balance organs is not new and has previously been discounted as an explanation for similar reported effects not involving wind turbines. Other evidence on acoustic stimulation of the balance organs has been noted but not reviewed. Health effects from other wind turbine related sources such as shadow flicker have been reported in several studies and guidelines to be less of a problem. Careful wind farm design and operational restrictions are suggested to be sufficient to minimise the impact. The mitigation strategies have been found to vary widely internationally with some countries and federal states using fixed noise limits, others using noise limits relative to existing background levels and many like the UK using a combination of both. Set-back distances are also used internationally but have a number of disadvantages. The relevant UK guideline document ETSU-R-97 aims to provide a reasonable degree of protection to noise sensitive listeners; without unduly restricting the development of wind turbine renewable energy resources. In the international comparison the ETSU-R-97 guidelines tends to result in comparatively low noise limits although direct comparisons between fixed and relative noise limits are difficult. ETSU-R-97 has been criticised for its inconsistent implementation and relative complexity. Good practice guidelines by the Institute of Acoustics which aim to address the implementation issues are due to be published in May

Oral Health Impacts Educational Success

Children with poor oral health experience significant pain, which can affect their eating habits and growth, make them more likely to get sick and miss school, and undermine their ability to concentrate in school. If we want children to succeed in school, we need to understand how learning and oral health are linked

Mathematical modelling of health impacts

Mathematical modelling is seldom applied to research of global measures of health or health inequalities mainly because of the lack of studies of interventions necessary to underpin modelling research

Health Impacts and Economics of Using Dried Manure Solids in the Northeast

Six farms using different types of dried manure solid (DMS) strategies, including a farm that had side-by-side pens using sand and DMS, participated in a study to assess the impact on herd health of using DMS as bedding on dairy farms in the Northeast. Samples of unused and used bedding were taken over the course of a year and analyzed for bacterial content and physical properties. Mastitis and somatic cell count (SCC) records were analyzed in relation to those properties. Although mastitis differed among farm/bedding strategies (FBS), bacteria levels and properties of bedding had no effect on mastitis incidence. Lactation number, stage of lactation and SCC were the significant variables. Decreased levels of Klebsiella in the used bedding increased the odds of having an abnormal SCC for one FBS, and decreased moisture and fine particles in the used bedding increased the odds of having an abnormal SCC for a different FBS. For all others, abnormal cell counts were affected only by season, lactation number and milk production. Economic analysis showed a savings of between 1 and 26 cents per hundred weight of milk produced through the use of manure solids as bedding on five farms. This study suggests that properly managed DMS can provide an economic benefit without compromising herd health

COSMO Wave 1 Initial Findings: Health Impacts and Behaviours

COVID infection and vaccination rates: Between October 2021 and March 2022, 48% of young people in the study reported having COVID-19. Of this group, 1 in 5 said they had long COVID (equating to 9% of the sample overall). 70% of these participants said that this limited their daily activities - 26% said activities were limited ‘severely’ (2% of the population overall). Those from the most deprived parts of the country (determined by IDACI quintile groups, an area-level measure for disadvantage) who had contracted the virus were more likely to report symptoms of long COVID, at 25% of those infected compared to 18% of those from the least deprived areas. 8% of participants said they were asked to shield at some point during the pandemic. Shielders were more likely to take part in catch-up activities like tutoring and weekend catch-up classes, compared to those not asked to shield. Controlling for background characteristics and prior attainment, suffering from long COVID that severely limits daily activities and being asked to shield were associated with lower teacher assessed GCSE grades. The experience of being seriously ill in hospital (not only due to COVID-19) is also negatively associated with teacher assessed GCSE attainment. // Health behaviours in the pandemic: Taking part in sports organised by school was considerably more common at independent schools (at 72% pre-pandemic) than in state comprehensives (26%) and grammars (32%). Provision by schools fell across all school types during the pandemic, although participation rates fell the least in independent schools, reducing by 9 percentage points, compared to 18pp in grammars and 14pp in state comprehensives. 23% of young people reported having smoked a cigarette, lower than the 33% who reported having used e-cigarettes. The use of e-cigarettes was more prevalent among young people from disadvantaged family backgrounds and state comprehensive schools compared to their more advantaged peers

Public Health Impacts of Climate Change

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the leading scientific institution on climate change research, atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas most attributed to causing climate change, has increased by 31 percent since the 1750s. This increase is caused by human activities, primarily the burning of fossil fuels. As a result of increasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions, changes in the earth's climate have been observed. The IPCC has stated that the 1990s was the warmest decade on record, with 1998 being the warmest year since 1861, before which adequate data is lacking. It has been recorded that the global average temperature has increased by 0.6 degrees Celsius in the past century and has been accompanied by observed sea level rise. Severe weather events, like El Nino, have also become more frequent in the past decades as a result of the changing climate. Based on these past and current trends, scientists have forecasted likely future climate conditions. It has been predicted that, among other things, regional weather patterns will likely be altered,changes in global precipitation patterns will occur, an increase of severe weather events is probable, and a general shift of climate conditions to higher latitudes will result. These climatic changes, already being witnessed today, will have a significant impact on human existence. Even slight alterations in climate conditions have the potential to greatly alter society

A Systematic Review of the Health Impacts of Mass Earth Movements (Landslides)

Background. Mass ground movements (commonly referred to as ‘landslides’) are common natural hazards that can have significant economic, social and health impacts. They occur as single events, or as clusters, and are often part of ‘disaster’ chains, occurring secondary to, or acting as the precursor of other disaster events. Whilst there is a large body of literature on the engineering and geological aspects of landslides, the mortality and morbidity caused by landslides is less well documented. As far as we are aware, this is the first systematic review to examine the health impacts of landslides. Methods. The MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, SCOPUS databases and the Cochrane library were systematically searched to identify articles which considered the health impacts of landslides. Case studies, case series, primary research and systematic reviews were included. News reports, editorials and non-systematic reviews were excluded. Only articles in English were considered. The references of retrieved papers were searched to identify additional articles. Findings. 913 abstracts were reviewed and 143 full text articles selected for review. A total of 27 papers reporting research studies were included in the review (25 from initial search, 1 from review of references and 1 from personal correspondence). We found a limited number of studies on the physical health consequences of landslides. Only one study provided detail of the causes of mortality and morbidity in relation a landslide event. Landslides cause significant mental health impacts, in particular the prevalence of PTSD may be higher after landslides than other types of disaster, though these studies tend to be older with only 3 papers published in the last 5 years, with 2 being published 20 years ago, and diagnostic criteria have changed since they were produced. Discussion. We were disappointed at the small number of relevant studies, and the generally poor documentation of the health impacts of landslides. Mental health impacts were better documented, though some of the studies are now quite old. Further research on the health impacts of landslides needs to be undertaken to support those responding to landslide disasters and to aid disaster risk mitigation advocacy

Guidelines for Sustainable Practices in the Rural Built Environment

This poster provides information about sustainable changes people can make to better improve their health, community and built environment. From what is shown, this can be done through community gardens, pedestrian access and building certifications. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), climate change will have direct and significant health impacts (1), which the Lancet Countdown identifies as disproportionately affecting at-risk populations.(2) The challenges of geographic isolation and lack of population density in rural and remote areas limits adequate access to basic healthcare services, such as primary care, emergency care, and mental health services. Additionally, the health deficit experienced by these populations is at a greater risk from the health impacts of climate change. This study examines climate resilient and sustainable design’s potential for addressing the health impacts of climate change on remote and rural populations

Assessing Ozone-Related Health Impacts under a Changing Climate

Climate change may increase the frequency and intensity of ozone episodes in future summers in the United States. However, only recently have models become available that can assess the impact of climate change on O(3) concentrations and health effects at regional and local scales that are relevant to adaptive planning. We developed and applied an integrated modeling framework to assess potential O(3)-related health impacts in future decades under a changing climate. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration–Goddard Institute for Space Studies global climate model at 4° × 5° resolution was linked to the Penn State/National Center for Atmospheric Research Mesoscale Model 5 and the Community Multiscale Air Quality atmospheric chemistry model at 36 km horizontal grid resolution to simulate hourly regional meteorology and O(3) in five summers of the 2050s decade across the 31-county New York metropolitan region. We assessed changes in O(3)-related impacts on summer mortality resulting from climate change alone and with climate change superimposed on changes in O(3) precursor emissions and population growth. Considering climate change alone, there was a median 4.5% increase in O(3)-related acute mortality across the 31 counties. Incorporating O(3) precursor emission increases along with climate change yielded similar results. When population growth was factored into the projections, absolute impacts increased substantially. Counties with the highest percent increases in projected O(3) mortality spread beyond the urban core into less densely populated suburban counties. This modeling framework provides a potentially useful new tool for assessing the health risks of climate change

Health Impacts Model

This report presents the draft outline of the CORFU Health Impacts Model. The model consists of assessing the risk to human health in four steps: Hazard identification Hazard characterisation (or dose-response assessment) Exposure assessment Risk characterisation The health impacts model has four components. The first of these is the risk to human life component, and adapts a model developed in the FLOODsite project to estimate the number of deaths and injuries that could be caused by flooding. The next component relates to waterborne diseases and illnesses that can be assessed by means of a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment. Thirdly, the model takes account of other diseases (such as those transmitted by vectors) and suggests the use of relative risk information to estimate the impact of this disease. A similar approach is suggested to consider the mental health impacts of flooding. Finally, the report describes how the health risks could be characterised using the Disability Adjusted Life Year (DALY).The work described in this publication was supported by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme through the grant to the budget of CORFU Collaborative Research on Flood Resilience in Urban Areas, Contract 244047