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posted by janrinok on Friday June 17 2022, @03:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the milking-it-for-the-compensation dept.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2022/06/08/4g-antenna-suspected-of-disturbing-herd-of-cows-in-haute-loire-to-be-shut-down_5986020_114.html

[...] "I can see from my tractor that they are all skin and bones. It's enough to make you cry." On the other side of the small road that winds along his property, a short distance from the town of Mazeyrat-d'Allier, in the Haute-Loire department, Frédéric Salgues can spot what he considers to be the cause of his cows' problems, less than 300 meters away: a cell phone tower commissioned by Orange on June 28, 2021.

[...] On May 23, the administrative court of Clermont-Ferrand ordered the 4G antenna's cessation of operation for a period of two months.

This measure, unprecedented in France, should become effective within three months. The objective is to carry out an expert assessment in order to "establish a potential causal link between the behavior of the cattle and this antenna." The administrative court highlights "a significant drop in the quality and quantity of milk produced, a serious disruption in the behavior of the herd and its voluntary denutrition and abnormally high deaths.


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  • (Score: 2) by Immerman on Saturday June 18 2022, @01:25AM (1 child)

    by Immerman (3985) on Saturday June 18 2022, @01:25AM (#1254125)

    Except it sounds like they've had problems for around a year (or am I assuming too much by thinking that the problems must have started soon after the tower went up), so there's no reason to excpet things to imporve shortly after they transmissions are shut off.

    And like I said, if they recover, it warrants further investigation, not assuming there's a connection. The most obvious step being to turn it back on and see if the problem returns. If it does, then do it a few more times, without the farmer knowing this time, and see if cow health correlates to the more complex pattern of changes. If it does then we have a serious contender for evidence that 4G can in fact cause serious health problems. But I won't be holding my breath.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by theluggage on Saturday June 18 2022, @02:39PM

    by theluggage (1797) on Saturday June 18 2022, @02:39PM (#1254224)

    The most obvious step being to turn it back on and see if the problem returns.

    Actually, the most obvious (and quicker) step would be to survey a bunch of other randomly-chosen cow fields, with and without 4G masts nearby, and look for a correlation. Even then, correlation is not causation and a positive result would still only mean "warrants further investigation". Trouble is, a negative result would pretty much disprove the connection, which wouldn't really be in the interests of the lawyers.

    As others have suggested it could very easily be connected to the construction of the tower (contamination, cutting down shade, poisonous plants taking root in disurbed ground...)

    I'm going to call it as anti-4G protesters continually holding vigils at the site and feeding their roaches to the cattle... :-)