A French court has recognised \u201cturbine syndrome\u201d after a couple complained their health was damaged by living near a windfarm.<\/p>\n
In what is believed to be the first judgment of its kind in\u00a0France, Belgians Christel and Luc Fockaert were awarded more than \u20ac100,000 in compensation by the judge in Toulouse.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0couple claimed they experienced a range of health problems<\/a> including headaches, insomnia, heart irregularities, depression, dizziness, tinnitus and nausea for more than two years, insisting these were caused by six wind turbines set up 700 metres from their home at Fontrieu in the Tarn, southern France.<\/p>\n The turbines had been installed in 2008. However, it was reported that the couple\u2019s health problems started five years later. The Fockaerts believed this was because woodland between their property and the nearest turbine was cut down.<\/p>\n They singled out the noise, which they said was \u201ccomparable to a washing machine continually turning\u201d, and the \u201cwhite flashing lights\u201d on the turbines, as particularly detrimental to their health.<\/p>\n \u201cWe didn\u2019t understand straight away, but little by little we realised the problem came from the turbines,\u201d Christel Fockaert said. \u201cThe turbines flash every two seconds \u2026 we had to have outside lights to counter the effect of the flashes.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple moved away from the area in 2015 and said their health problems disappeared shortly afterwards.<\/p>\n Doctors failed to find any health problem, but a court expert said turbine syndrome had been previously identified by scientific research.<\/p>\n However, an\u00a0Australian study<\/a>\u00a0found sickness attributed to wind turbines is more likely to have been caused by people getting alarmed at the health warnings circulated by activists. Researchers said it was \u201cessentially a sociological phenomenon\u201d and that giving it a name like \u201cwind turbine syndrome\u201d and \u201cvibro-acoustic disease\u201d was a key feature in its spread.<\/p>\n Other\u00a0peer-reviewed studies in Europe, Canada and the US<\/a>\u00a0have also\u00a0debunked<\/a>\u00a0the alleged \u201csyndrome\u201d \u2013 that is not medically recognised \u2013 suggesting it is adverse publicity, opposition to the turbines or the\u00a0power of negative expectations and suggestions<\/a>\u00a0that might be making people feel sick.<\/p>\n The Fockaerts\u2019 case was originally thrown out of court in January last year but they appealed, saying the judge had ignored the experts\u2019 reports they had commissioned and instead had gone to see for themselves but had spent only an hour at the site of the complaint.<\/p>\n The energy companies Sasu, Margnes Energie and Sasu Singladou Energie, which run the park, were ordered to pay \u20ac110,000 in compensation to the couple and were reported to have since changed the lights and speed of the six turbines.<\/p>\n