Dr Robert McMurtry Commentary on Chapman “Nocebo” Paper
Dr. Robert McMurtry M.D.
March 2013
Spatio-temporal differences in the history of health and noise complaints about Australian wind farms: evidence for the psychogenic, “communicated disease” hypothesis.’ Pre-Print: submitted for publication. Chapman S et al. 15 March 2013
This paper appears to require more vigorous editing or peer review in regards to its bibliography and many other elements (see below). The references are highly selective and appear to reflect a confirmation bias by referencing industry and their consultants sources while omitting more than 20 peer review publications regarding the presence of adverse health effects in the environs of industrial wind turbines.
The introductory section has an editorial tone disclaiming the validity of reports before the research is undertaken. It has the appearance of stating the conclusions of the enquiry before critical analysis. The bias evident in this section undermines any claim to objectivity by the authors, particularly the senior author who has been making these same claims on his active “Crikey” blog site (www.crikey.com.au/author/simonchapman/). The title of one the articles cited on the blog Simon Chapman states: “Latest wind farm research is a load of hot air”. The date of the article is October 14, 2011. This statement provides an insight into the senior author’s bias. He had reached the principle conclusion of his paper before publishing the research.
In addition one would expect some reference to more than 20 peer review publications attesting to adverse health effects in the introduction or elsewhere in the paper but such referencing was omitted or possibly excluded.