Politicians polluting wind debate are blind to the impacts of coal

20.10.15 By
This content is more than 8 years old

POLITICIANS should stick to the facts on the health impacts of energy, the Climate Council said today.

The Climate Council has offered to brief NSW Health Minister Pru Goward after reports emerged today she had ignored the advice of her own department that wind farms did not pose a risk to human health, telling a newspaper that she believed health complaints about wind farms had some validity.

Ignoring several international scientific reviews that have repeatedly found wind farms are safe, Ms Goward said her “lightbulb moment” after “five or six” people personally complained to her.

Climate Council CEO Amanda McKenzie said politicians had a responsibility not to pollute the debate on wind energy with misinformation.

“The fact is, our most respected scientific institutions including the National Health and Medical Research Council have found there is no evidence that wind farms are harmful to human health,” she said.

“On the other hand, there is a mountain of evidence about the damaging health impacts of coal but you very rarely hear a politician state any concerns about those.

“Coal mining and burning coal for electricity emits toxic and carcinogenic substances into our air, water and land.

“Australia’s heavy reliance on coal for electricity generation and massive coal industry expansion present significant risks to the health of communities, families and individuals.

“The future of Australia’s energy cannot be based on the opinions of a handful of people. We need energy policy that is underpinned by strong evidence.”

The Climate Council is an independent, crowd-funded organisation providing quality information to climate change to the Australian public.

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