Mr Hazzard said his view was consistent with that of NSW Health in that strong planning guidelines minimised any risk. The guidelines include a proviso that anyone living within two kilometres of a proposed turbine can send it through an extra planning process that takes account of health impacts.

NSW Health said in its briefings that the guidelines would minimise any health impacts but was scathing of presentations to the government by anti-wind farm groups, including the Landscape Guardians.

One study by Nina Pierpont, which is central to the claims that wind turbines make people ill, was dismissed as ''not of sufficient scientific rigour'' by NSW Health. ''This 'study' is not a rigorous epidemiological study; it is a case series of 10 families drawn from a wide range of locations,'' according to the ministerial briefing on July 5 last year. ''This work has not been properly peer reviewed. Nor has it been published in the peer-reviewed literature. The findings are not scientifically valid, with major methodological flaws stemming from the poor design of the study."

The documents, obtained under FOI laws by the environment group Friends of the Earth, say existing studies had been examined and no known causal link could be established. The assessment undermines the claims of an anti-wind farm group, the Waubra Foundation, which had been lobbying the government for a moratorium on new wind farms.

"The documents from NSW Health confirm our belief that the foundation has been 'cherry picking' data that supports its allegations about 'wind turbine syndrome' by talking with people who believe they have … symptoms,'' said a Friends of the Earth spokesman, Cam Walker. ''This becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy and is not the basis of good science … Yet, as has been noted by a growing number of medical authorities, there is no credible evidence of a causal link between turbines and ill health.''