Editor:

As a physician-epidemiologist I am writing in response to Lorrie Gillis' letter requesting input re symptoms arising from exposure to

windmills.  I hope she and her colleagues will realize that all the symptoms they are documenting in people exposed to windmills are also experienced in people who are not exposed to windmills.

Thus, if they want to make a case for the hazards of windmills, it is essential that they demonstrate that the severity and frequency of symptoms reported by those living near windmills is vastly greater than that reported by others.  Without comparative information, their work will have little impact. Also essential will be to collect any information in an identical fashion for both groups of people.

A challenge they should expect to face is: prove that the noise from windmills is more injurious than living next to a busy highway.

My colleagues and I at the University of Toronto, distributed a research questionnaire to hundreds of people asking them to report which of 171 symptoms they have experienced.  Our results show clearly that multiple symptoms, unrelated to disease, are part of human  existence.

Cornelia J. Baines MD, MSc, FACE