Cell Towers in Switzerland Make Cows Blind

[RadioRaiders]

Quick summary in English:

A cell tower near Zürich was existing on a farm between 1999 and 2006. During this time the farmer had 50 calves born that were blind. Since the tower was turned off in 2006, he hasn't had any problems with calves being born blind. The animal hospital confirmed blindness can be casued by radio emissions, and now Orange (the cell operator) is being sued for damages

...hmmm, makes me wonder what other factors were involved? Was he feeding his calves some tainted food at this time? What about any nuclear reactor in the area? Or...?

I never heard of cell towers causing blindness. Especially since Switzerland has emission restrictions 10x stricter than the rest of Europe...


www.20minuten.ch: News von jetzt!

Handyantenne macht Kälber blind
Ein Bauer aus Reutlingen nahe Winterthur hatte schon lange einen schrecklichen Verdacht: Die Strahlung der Handyantenne auf seinem Hof führt bei Kälbern zu Behinderungen. Nun bestätigen Wissenschaftler seine Vermutung.


Auf dem Hof von Hans Sturzenegger stand von 1999 bis 2006 eine Mobilfunkantenne. Während dieser Zeit kam beinahe jedes dritte Kalb auf dem Hof mit einer Art Grauen Star auf die Welt. Diese Behinderung sorgte für fast komplette Blindheit bei den Wiederkäuern. Insgesamt rund 50 Kälber konnte der Bauer in dieser Zeit nicht zur Zucht benützen, wie er das vor hatte. «Das hat uns die ganze Zucht verschüttelt», sagte er gegenüber Tele Züri. Sturzenegger vermutete als Grund schon bald die elektromagnetische Strahlung der Mobilfunkantenne. Und tatsächlich, seit die Antenne nicht mehr in Betrieb ist, sind die Kälbchen auch wieder gesund.

Jetzt haben Wissenschaftler des Tierspitals Zürich diesen Verdacht bestätigt, wie verschiedene Medien heute berichteten. Tierarzt Michael Hässig erklärte gegenüber Tele Züri, dass das Risiko einer Augenbehinderung für das Vieh auf Sturzeneggers Hof zehnfach erhöht war. Gestützt auf die bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnisse hat Hans Sturzenegger den Netzbetreiber Orange auf Schadenersatz verklagt.

[Ironwalt]

Originally Posted by RadioRaiders

Quick summary in English:

A cell tower near Zürich was existing on a farm between 1999 and 2006. During this time the farmer had 50 calves born that were blind. Since the tower was turned off in 2006, he hasn't had any problems with calves being born blind. The animal hospital confirmed blindness can be casued by radio emissions, and now Orange (the cell operator) is being sued for damages

...hmmm, makes me wonder what other factors were involved? Was he feeding his calves some tainted food at this time? What about any nuclear reactor in the area? Or...?

I never heard of cell towers causing blindness. Especially since Switzerland has emission restrictions 10x stricter than the rest of Europe...


www.20minuten.ch: News von jetzt!

Well that wild. I would say it would have to be something else going on like you said. Other than that I would say leave it on just enough till the cows need glasses.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by Ironwalt

Well that wild. I would say it would have to be something else going on like you said. Other than that I would say leave it on just enough till the cows need glasses.

I agree. This is crazy. I'd say probably at least 75% of the rural towers in my hometown are in pastures. I think either there was a malfunction of the equipment at the site, or there was something else going on. If the cell site was the cause there would be other farms effected throughout the world.

Besides, blind cows would make delicious veal, right?

-Jay

[Ironwalt]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Besides, blind cows would make delicious veal, right?

-Jay

That's what they say

[Andy]

That is crazy! I wonder what other factors were involved in this, too.

Where near Winterthur is Reutlingen? I know of a Reutlingen, Germany (which was not too far from where I lived), but never heard of Reutlingen in CH. I have a family in Wintherthur and in Hagenbuch (about 20 minutes outside of Winterthur in the farm country).

[RadioRaiders]

[quote=Andy;478797]
Where near Winterthur is Reutlingen?QUOTE]
Straßenkarte, stadtpläne, plan, straßenkarten, Adresse suche, Adressen suchen und finden, Städtereisen Deutschland, ViaMichelin

Jay: I was also thinking of a malfunctioning site, but then I'm sure Orange checked it 10x over before shutting it down to ensure the farmer everything was working fine. Plus BAKOM (the Swiss FCC) was probably also called in to make independant measurements. Then there's a million "anti-electrosmog" groups running around who also probably went to measure it. So I'm pretty sure it was thorougly checked before the plug was pulled.

[Jay2TheRescue]

[quote=RadioRaiders;478816]

Originally Posted by Andy

Where near Winterthur is Reutlingen?QUOTE]
Straßenkarte, stadtpläne, plan, straßenkarten, Adresse suche, Adressen suchen und finden, Städtereisen Deutschland, ViaMichelin

Jay: I was also thinking of a malfunctioning site, but then I'm sure Orange checked it 10x over before shutting it down to ensure the farmer everything was working fine. Plus BAKOM (the Swiss FCC) was probably also called in to make independant measurements. Then there's a million "anti-electrosmog" groups running around who also probably went to measure it. So I'm pretty sure it was thorougly checked before the plug was pulled.

You know these groups piss me off. They complain, and say that we shouldn't have these things, but then most of their members won't part with their phones, and they expect them to work everywhere.

-Jay

[RadioRaiders]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

You know these groups piss me off. They complain, and say that we shouldn't have these things, but then most of their members won't part with their phones, and they expect them to work everywhere.

-Jay

Thats the irony of the cell phone biz: "Everyone wants coverage, but nobody wants the towers"

[Jerro]

What a crock. Unless there was a high power misaimed microwave dish on the tower there is no chance that the power coming out of a normal cell site would do that. I live down the road from one, I haven't been fried yet and its been there since 1984.

[COtech]

There is an important missing piece of information. What's the number of sighted calves born, or total number of calves born in those years.

COtech

[RadioRaiders]

Originally Posted by COtech

There is an important missing piece of information. What's the number of sighted calves born, or total number of calves born in those years.

COtech

The article said every third calf born, then went on to say a total of 50 calves. So 50 blind calves out of a total of 150.

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

Besides, blind cows would make delicious veal, right?

-Jay

Yea, they still killed the calves and ate them I'm sure, so I'm not sure what "damages" the farmer is suing for If anything, they can think about all the money they saved on not having to buy the calves newspapers and laptops

[Bill Clinton]

I see cell sites mounted on silos all the time. I have a hard time believing that the cell site was the cause of the problems because we should have heard of similar cases by now.