Of course windmills are dangerous. If one of those turbine blades comes unbolted during a gale, for example, it could boomerang around the whole territory and cause awful carnage.

We’re kidding. Maybe if Stephen King were writing a new wind turbine-themed thriller set in rural Maine, that would be his plot. The more possible, yet unproven, dangers from windmills come from their operation, and whether unforeseen health effects could stem from it.

The medical staff of Rumford Hospital has voiced its health concerns about windmills, as turbine projects spring up all around them like tulips. There’s Record Hill in Roxbury and now Black Mountain in Rumford, for starters. More are sure to come.

Dr. Albert Aniel has led the scrutiny. His concern is straightforward – there have been plenty of things we, as a culture, thought were health-harmless, only to later discover there were dangers that could have been avoided. History tells us this is a salient point.

Unfortunately, those in Rumford – and most others who think windmills cause ill health – lack the proverbial smoking gun. Most studies indicate windmills are as neutral as they appear, with the only effects seemingly psychosomatic, from deep-seated perceptions of harm.

In other words, the symptoms of turbine maladies are real, because sufferers think they are.

This neither proves nor disproves Rumford’s hypothesis. For every study they cite, there’s another with an alternative conclusion. Maine lacks a good measure, because it only has one long-standing operational windfarm, Mars Hill. There’s no control group to balance a test.

There could be now, though. Rumford could be – arguably should be – the center of the first detailed, objective studies about turbine effects. The town’s broad population, numerous pending turbine projects and energized medical community could make this happen.

It strikes us that unless addressed, health questions about turbines will fuel opposition to their construction wherever proposed, land or sea. For Maine to seize on its wind potential, it must be in the vanguard of answering all questions and quieting all concerns.

As turbines sprout, the answer to the questions raised in Rumford won’t be found through the ambiguity of citing differing studies. It’s a serious matter that should be addressed. The staff in Rumford isn’t tilting at windmills; they’re worried about them.

So look at it. It makes sense for it to happen in Maine, if only to settle the issue once and for all.

It makes even more sense for it to happen in Rumford, just in case the doctors turn out to be right.