The Waubra Foundation is an Australian lobby that opposes

wind farms Wind is the natural movement of air or other gases relative to a planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heating of land surfaces and lasting a few hou ...

and promotes the controversial

wind turbine syndrome Wind turbine syndrome and wind farm syndrome are terms for the alleged adverse human health effects related to the proximity of wind turbines. Proponents claim that these effects include congenital abnormality, cancer, and death, for which there ...

. The foundation was created by Peter Mitchell, a director of several oil and gas companies. The foundation describes itself as an advocacy group for properly conducted, multidisciplinary research into alleged health problems reported by people living in the vicinity of

wind turbine A wind turbine is a device that converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. Hundreds of thousands of large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, now generate over 650 gigawatts of power, with 60 GW added each year. ...

s and other industrial uses. The foundation is named after the town of

Waubra Waubra (formerly known as The Springs) is a town in Victoria, Australia. The town is on the Sunraysia Highway, north west of Ballarat and split between the Pyrenees Shire and City of Ballarat local government areas. At the , Waubra and the surro ...

, Victoria Australia, but is not linked to it in any other way. The town is home to the 128 turbines at

Waubra Wind Farm The Waubra wind farm is located on both sides of the Sunraysia Highway 35 km north-west of Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. Upon its completion in July 2009, it was the largest wind farm in Australia and was the largest wind farm by numb ...

Pseudo scientific claims

Claims made by the Waubra Foundation relating to wind turbine syndrome and wind farm syndrome are considered pseudo scientific and are not recognised as actual diseases by any international disease classification system, nor do they appear in any title or abstract in the

United States National Library of Medicine The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), operated by the United States federal government, is the world's largest medical library. Located in Bethesda, Maryland, the NLM is an institute within the National Institutes of Health. Its ...

PubMed PubMed is a free search engine accessing primarily the MEDLINE database of references and abstracts on life sciences and biomedical topics. The United States National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health maintain the ...

database. Wind turbine syndrome has been characterized as

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or falsifiability, unfa ...

. Since 2003, 25 reviews have been published of the scientific literature on wind turbines and health. These studies have consistently found no reason to believe that wind turbines are harmful to health.

History

The Foundation was originally known as the 'Waubra Disease Foundation' after claims that health problems reported by some residents of Waubra were caused by wind turbines. The Waubra Foundation has claimed that wind turbines have a mental and physical health impact on some people, largely as a result of

infrasound Infrasound, sometimes referred to as low status sound, describes sound waves with a frequency below the lower limit of human audibility (generally 20 Hz). Hearing becomes gradually less sensitive as frequency decreases, so for humans to perce ...

. The Foundation claims the following symptoms are consistent with the impacts of wind turbine proximity: sleep disturbance, headache including

migraine Migraine (, ) is a common neurological disorder characterized by recurrent headaches. Typically, the associated headache affects one side of the head, is pulsating in nature, may be moderate to severe in intensity, and could last from a few hou ...

tinnitus Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...

, ear pressure (often described as painful), balance problems / dizziness,

vertigo Vertigo is a condition where a person has the sensation of movement or of surrounding objects moving when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. This may be associated with nausea, vomiting, sweating, or difficulties w ...

, nausea, visual blurring, irritability, problems with concentration and memory, panic episodes, and

tachycardia Tachycardia, also called tachyarrhythmia, is a heart rate that exceeds the normal resting rate. In general, a resting heart rate over 100 beats per minute is accepted as tachycardia in adults. Heart rates above the resting rate may be normal (su ...

(fast heart rate). In 2009, the term

Wind Turbine Syndrome Wind turbine syndrome and wind farm syndrome are terms for the alleged adverse human health effects related to the proximity of wind turbines. Proponents claim that these effects include congenital abnormality, cancer, and death, for which there ...

was coined to encompass the broad range of symptoms described by complainants living near turbines. The Foundation has published reports from sufferers of wind turbine syndrome symptoms living as far as 17 kilometres from the nearest turbine. In November 2013, Senator

Richard Di Natale Richard Luigi Di Natale (born 6 June 1970) is a former Australian politician who was a senator for Victoria. He was also the leader of the Australian Greens from 2015 to 2020. Di Natale was elected to the Senate in the 2010 federal election. A ...

, at that time health spokesperson for the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, are a confederation of Green state and territory political parties in Australia. As of the 2022 federal election, the Greens are the third largest political party in Australia by vote and th ...

, and former general practitioner, lodged a written complaint with both the

Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) is the regulatory authority for charities and not-for-profit organisations within Australia. The Commission was established in December 2012 as part of the ''Australian Charities ...

(ACNC) and the

Australian Tax Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Australian federal taxation system, superannuati ...

, questioning the Waubra Foundation's qualification as a health promotion charity, on the basis that the foundation’s claims are false and misleading, and that they might actually be causing harm. On 11 December 2014, the ACNC revoked the foundation’s registration as a health promotion charity, with the Assistant Commissioner saying, "It is not possible for me to find that the Foundation's principal activity promotes the prevention or control of disease in human beings". In December 2017, the decision was affirmed after a failed appeal.

References

{{Reflist Political advocacy groups in Australia Wind power in Australia

External links

https://waubrafoundation.org.au/