A French court has for the first time recognised the alleged physical suffering inflicted by mobile phones and wi-fi as a medical disorder.
Marine Richard, 39, a former radio producer from Marseilles, was awarded a disability allowance of £500 per month after she convinced judges in Toulouse that she had been forced to flee civilisation because of the disagreeable sensations that she felt near electromagnetic radiation.
“This is a breakthrough,” said Ms Richard, whose case was backed by campaigners for the recognition of electromagnetic hypersensitivity syndrome (EHS), a condition rejected by medical experts as unsubstantiated.
French campaigners have recently persuaded local authorities to move mobile phone towers after complaints from residents, but French courts had previously refused to award disability payments to sufferers, a few of whom have set up “radiation-free” colonies in the countryside.
Ms Richard said that she had been forced by her condition to live with relatives in the remote, rural Ariège département, lodging in a barn with no electricity. Alice Terrasse, her lawyer, said that the ruling set a legal precedent for “thousands of people”.