Farmers demanded expertise after the death of 34 of their cows since the commissioning of a 4G antenna 200 meters from their farm in July 2021.
Article written by
Posted
Reading time : 1 min.
The judicial court of Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire) has just appointed on Friday February 18 an expert responsible for establishing a potential link between the presence of a 4G antenna and the death of several dozen cattle on a farm in Mazeyrat-d’Allier, reports France Bleu Saint-Etienne Loire.
Gaec de Coupet farmers were asking for expertise, because 34 of their cows have died since the commissioning of a 4G antenna 200 meters from their farm in July 2021. Others are no longer eating. According to the farmers, the health of the animals improved for a few days in October 2021, during a brief break in the antenna to make adjustments.
Analyzes of water and food revealed nothing, but according to measurements made by the Chamber of Agriculture, the intensity of the electric current near the antenna would be abnormal. The appointment of a legal expert must make it possible to determine possible responsibilities if a causal link is established between the deaths of cattle and the 4G antenna.
The lawyer for Orange, the operator of the 4G antenna, had questioned the jurisdiction of the court to rule on this type of case, adding that in the event of a cut in the antenna, it could run a risk to the inhabitants of the area, deprived of telephones and therefore unable to warn the emergency services.
As for the lawyer for Santerne, the company which installed the relay antenna, he had asked that the company be exonerated, on the grounds that it had only installed the antenna and that it was not responsible for its good or bad functioning. It is now up to the courts to determine that. The expert could go there in the coming weeks.