(ORDO NEWS) — A court in France ruled in favor of a farmer who claimed a 4G antenna was harmful to the health of his cows and ordered the antenna to be turned off for two months.
An administrative court in Clermont-Ferrand (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) ordered the antenna to be switched off after Frédéric Salgues, a farmer from Hautes-Loire, said he suspected the antenna was harming the health of his herd.
The court said that “it would be prudent to order a temporary suspension of operation of this antenna for two months, given its general impact, with a forensic expert monitoring the behavior of the herd, in particular dairy cows, during this period.”
Operator Orange now has three months to act on the ruling, including shutting down the antenna and providing telephone coverage, including emergency calls, to Orange users in the area affected by the decision.
After the decision, Mr Salges told AFP he hoped his cows could “recover as soon as possible” and called the court’s decision “a great relief and victory.”
Mr Salguez said that since the installation of the antenna in July 2021 – 200 meters from his farm in Mazeira d’Allier (Haute Loire) – about 40 of his herd of normally 200 have died and milk production decreased by 15-20% within a few days after turning on the antenna.
He said: “There are no medical factors that could otherwise explain such a sharp drop in milk production.”
Philippe Moliere, the mayor of Mazeira d’Allier, who had previously given permission for the installation of the antenna, testified in favor of the farmer.
He said he feared a “catastrophe on a human level” and that he was increasingly “concerned” about the fate of the 1,500 inhabitants of his village.
However, lawyers for the mobile operators affected by the ruling, which include Free and Bouygues Telecom in addition to Orange, said there is “no scientific evidence” that there is a link between animal health and electromagnetic fields surrounding antennas. mobile phones.
It comes as the rollout of 5G technology, which promises even faster internet speeds than 4G, has sparked controversy in France. Many antennas have been vandalized.
However, the French health and safety agency l’Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire (Anses) has repeatedly stated that modern scientific research shows that 5G antennas “do not pose a noticeable health risk, since they use frequencies very close to previous generations of communication.”
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