By Graham Readfearn, via DeSmogBlog

Anti-wind farm activists around the world have created a silent bogeyman they claim can cause everything from sickness and headaches to herpes, kidney damage and cancers.

This “infrasound” exists at frequencies too low for the human ear to detect but is present almost everywhere from offices and roadsides to waves tumbling on ocean beaches. These low frequencies can crawl menacingly from the back of your kitchen fridge or from your heart beating.

Despite the ubiquitous nature of infrasound, anti-wind farm groups such as Australia’s Waubra Foundation like people to think that it’s only inaudible infrasound from wind turbines which might send residents to their sick beds.

But two new studies suggest the cause of health complaints by people living near wind farms could in fact be down to the scare campaign of the anti-wind groups and reports about such scares in the media.

The first study, “Can Expectations Produce Symptoms From Infrasound Associated With Wind Turbines?” was published earlier this month in Health Psychology — a journal of the American Psychological Association.

The researchers from the University of Auckland in New Zealand wanted to find out if simply exposing people to warnings that turbines might make you ill was enough to cause them to report typical symptoms such as headaches and nausea.

Using 54 people, the researchers showed half the group five minutes of footage of people complaining that wind farms had made them ill. Some of the footage was taken from this Australian Broadcasting Corporation report (watch it here) into “Waubra disease” where residents were filmed complaining about a wind farm at Waubra in Victoria. Footage was also taken from this CTV Network report from Canada about a wind farm in Ontario.

This group was called the “high expectancy group” because the information they were given had led them to expect they might experience certain symptoms if exposed to infrasound. The other half of the group was shown interviews with experts stating that the science showed infrasound could not directly cause health problems.

The researchers then told each person they were going to be exposed to two 10-minute periods of infrasound in a special acoustic room when, in fact, for one of those periods they would be exposed to no sound at all, or “sham infrasound” as the researchers describe it. So what happened?

The response from the “high expectancy” group was to report that the “infrasound” had caused them to experience more symptoms which were more intense. This was the case whether they were exposed to sham infrasound or genuine infrasound. The report explains that “the number of symptoms reported and the intensity of the symptom experienced during listening sessions were not affected by exposure to infrasound but were influenced by expectancy group allocation.”

In the low expectancy group, the infrasound and sham infrasound had little to no effect. In other words, the study found that if a person is told that wind turbines will make them ill then they are likely to report symptoms, regardless of whether they are exposed to infrasound or not.

Clearly, this points the finger at anti-wind farm campaigns as a potential cause of people’s symptoms, rather than “infrasound” from turbines. The research added: “The importance of findings in this study is that symptom expectations were created by viewing TV material readily available on the Internet, indicating the potential for such expectations to be created outside of the laboratory in real-world settings.”

Writing about her research on The Conversation, lead author Fiona Crichton says:

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Climate change could cause pollen counts to more than double over the next 30 years, according to an ongoing Rutgers University study.

The research, presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology conference in November, tested how allergenic plants respond to conditions that mimic those of a warming world, including changing weather patterns and increases in temperature and carbon dioxide.

Based on these tests, the researchers predict pollen counts could reach 21,735 particles of pollen per cubic meter by 2040 — a drastic spike from 2000’s average of 8,455. An “extremely high” pollen count for trees — which account for most of spring pollen — is 1,500. The research also predicts that, as spring arrives earlier due to climate change, pollen seasons will begin earlier as well. In 2000, pollen production began April 14 and peaked May 1, but by 2040, the researchers predict production will start more than a month earlier, peaking by April 8.

Though the research is not yet published, it lines up with what scientists already know about plants’ reactions to increased carbon dioxide and temperature. A 2002 study in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology found that ragweed, which causes most fall allergies, produces 61 percent more pollen when grown in an atmosphere with double the normal amount of carbon dioxide. A 2006 study on the same plant produced similar results. Pollen produced under high CO₂ conditions may even be more highly allergenic, as Clifford Bassett, an allergist and ACAAI fellow, told CNN:

As you increase CO₂, it tells the allergenic plants to produce more pollen to the tune of three to four times more, and the pollen itself, we think, may actually be more potent.

Pollen records have been off the charts over the last few years, as warm weather arrived early in many states. Last year, pollen season began early due to a mild winter and early onset of warm weather, and pollen counts across the U.S. were extremely high. In Atlanta, the pollen count reached 9,369 particles per cubic meter of air, shattering the city’s 1999 record of 6,013. Vanderbilt University in Nashville recorded a pollen count of 11,000, the highest count recorded since the university began counting 12 years ago. Many places saw similarly high counts and early pollen releases in 2010 and 2011. This year has already seen early spikes and dips in the pollen count, due to temperatures rising and falling — some places, like Gainesville, Fla., logged high pollen counts as early as January.

Higher pollen counts aren’t just uncomfortable for allergy sufferers — since allergies can trigger asthma attacks, higher pollen counts and earlier pollen releases can have serious implications for those suffering from asthma, and could even be connected to the global rise of asthma cases.

As the climate warms and springs and summers become longer, allergy seasons in fall, spring and summer could extend as well, exacerbating allergy symptoms. When allergy sufferers have no respite from symptoms, it makes them more prone to serious allergy attacks than if they had had a break between seasons.