INTERVIEW: Carl Valentin, Denmark’s first vegan MP, on Covid-19 and the death of the mink fur industry
We spoke to Carl Valentin, Denmark’s first-ever proudly vegan MP, about his political career, championing animal rights and environmentalism in the Danish political landscape, and how to ensure that the ban on mink farming for fur stays beyond Covid-19.
Q: Tell us about your political work in regard to the fur industry in Denmark over the course of your career. What were your highlights as spokesperson on environment, food and animal welfare for your party and the Danish parliament?
I have been politically active since I was 14 years old, firstly as a part of the Socialist People's Party's youth organisation, but I was also involved with different movements for climate justice, economic equality, a strong educational system, and free and better help to the mentally vulnerable.
About four years ago, I started being more interested in animal rights and since then have spent a lot of energy promoting a plant-based diet. I have argued that all animals should be included in our moral community and that we should see them as the individuals that they are. I have done everything within my power to ensure that more people understand the connection between intensive animal farming and the climate and biodiversity crises.
In 2019, I was elected to the Danish parliament as the first vegan ever. I believe that it is an event worth highlighting in itself and that it will be considered a more historic event when animal rights and veganism gains wider acceptance in the future, but since I was elected, I have also won several political battles of which I am proud.
Firstly, Denmark adopted a binding climate law obliging politicians to cut our emissions by 70 per cent by 2030. This is one of the most ambitious climate laws in the world, and it was one of my key issues in the election campaign. There is no doubt that besides being important for the climate in itself, the legislation is also a huge advantage for non-human animals. Approximately 33 per cent of Denmark's greenhouse gas emissions come from agriculture, so there is no way around reducing our animal production if we want to achieve the 70 per cent reduction target.
We also convinced the government to adopt a ban on eggs from caged hens - a fight that the animal rights movement has been fighting for, for years. For the first time in Danish history, we allocated millions of dollars to pure plant-based ecological projects. We have changed the official Danish dietary guidelines so they are much more plant-based. In addition, we have allocated millions more in funding to educate staff in public kitchens so that they have the knowledge to cook more and better plant-based options. This is extremely important because even though we are only around 5.8 million people in Denmark, 800,000 meals are served in public kitchens every single day.
I also believe one of my big wins is that I have influenced my co-workers both within my party and other parties. More and more members of parliament are starting to understand that the plant-based agenda is here to stay. And about mink...
In summer last year, we saw the first outbreak of coronavirus in mink farms in Denmark. It was, in my opinion, deeply concerning. We had already seen how quickly the virus could spread in the Netherlands. However, none of the parties in parliament seemed concerned, so my party and I started to probe the government. We wanted them to take it seriously. Denmark had, without comparison, the biggest mink production in the world. We had around 17 million mink, which is even more absurd taking into consideration that we are such a small country. For this reason, the Danish mink industry's lobby organisation is enormously strong, and thus many politicians do not want to oppose them. When my party and I first proposed to shut down the industry permanently, it was not well received. But after months of hard work, we succeeded in making the government take the health situation seriously. At that point, literally millions of mink had been infected with the coronavirus, and mink-mutated forms of the virus had spread to the population. It was not only the potentially dangerous mutations we were worried about, it was also the infection rate with the mink farms acting as infection reservoirs spreading the virus into the population.
The government decided to cull all mink in Denmark. The industry was appalled, as this would mean that also the so-called "breeding animals” would be culled down making it extremely difficult for the industry to start up again. Denmark is well known for its high-quality mink furs, and the industry has spent years of breeding to get the best fur quality possible. This was the entire foundation of the Danish mink industry and now it is gone. For an opponent of the mink industry like myself, it is only a good thing that it will be almost impossible for the industry to start up again, but for people who think we should continue to put defenceless animals into tiny cages their whole lives, I guess it is a shame
Q: Was a ban on mink farming inevitable, or was the Covid-19 situation key to passing it?
In the long run, I think that a ban against the mink industry was inevitable. It is a horrible, unnecessary outdated production, and around the globe, mink production has been banned.
Countries like Norway, Germany, the UK, France, and the Netherlands have already adopted bans, so it was certainly a matter of time before Denmark would follow. But with the biggest mink production in the world, it was not easy to make the argument that we should shut it down. It could have taken years to get there. Every time we tried, people would cry out about how terrible it would be for the Danish economy, that many people would lose their jobs, even though the entire industry had run with a deficit the last five years and only employed a few thousand people. The Labour Party as well as the Social Liberal Party and the entire rightwing were against a ban, so it was a lonely fight. In other words, there is no doubt that Covid-19 pushed this decision, and hopefully, people now have a greater understanding of what health risks also follow from factory farming.
Q: Like other countries such as Sweden and Italy, the ban on mink farming is temporary until 2022. What can we do to make it permanent? Has there been much political support for the ban or resistance against it?
We need to continue to point out that it constitutes a health risk to restart mink farming. What if corona - or other viruses - spread to the mink again? Is it really a risk worth taking for rich people to be able to dress up in fur?
I also think we need to insist on talking about ethics. Mink are territorial animals, moving across gigantic areas in nature. They prefer to be alone and are semi-aquatic animals who love to go for a swim. Nonetheless, we place them in tiny cages together with other animals and without any access to water in which to swim, or anything to do at all. In my opinion, it is sick and without any respect for the individuals that they are.
It is also my experience that people get upset when they hear how enormous the consequences of fur production were for the environment. Denmark has seen extreme amounts of ammonia emissions. This poses a serious health risk for the population and especially people living close to the mink farms.
Finally, yet importantly, I think we need to ensure that the former mink breeders do not suffer from unemployment. Nobody wants to harm those working in agriculture. We just want to stop the animals from suffering and dying needlessly. To this end, we have a commitment to help the former mink breeders find new employment - for example by providing them with education and new skill sets so they are not left behind not knowing what to do.
Q: Even though the ban is temporary, has the loss of entire populations of mink and other financial burdens effectively ended many mink breeding operations for good? Do you expect to see farms start to operate again after the ban is lifted?
I still think it is hard to tell if the mink industry will start up again. I am leaning towards believing that it will be shut down permanently, but if it does start up again, I think at most one in ten farms would resume operations.
Mink breeding is a dying industry because citizens all over the world are arguing against it and because there is a big risk associated with starting up again. In addition to this, the labour government in Denmark has been very cautious when handling the corona situation, so it would be unlike them to let the industry start up again if there is still any risk of infection. Last but not least, I succeeded in making an agreement with other parties saying that the mink breeders' buildings should be torn down if they accept any financial compensation for the losses they have suffered due to the shutdown. As such, we secured that it will be extremely difficult for them to start up again.
Q: Changing the topic slightly, what were the key factors that led you to adopt veganism, a different lifestyle to most of society?
I am a vegan and my primary motivation is animal ethics. It is definitely not something I have always been - for many years I was politically active without thinking of the animals at all. My attitude was that we should "treat the animals well", but I had no idea how bad the conditions actually are in the industry.
However, when a good friend of mine argued in favour of veganism, I started looking into it. I started considering our relationship with other animals, and why we believe we are entitled to exploit them. For months, I went into total geek mode and read everything I could about veganism. I read Animal Liberation by Peter Singer, Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari, Why We Love Dogs Eat Pigs and Wear Cows by Melanie Joy, and several other books – I tried to figure what arguments we could possibly have to treat the animals the way we do. All I found was habits, traditions, and convenience, so I stopped eating animals. And today I’m vegan and the fight for animal rights is an important part of my political work.
Likewise, I have been engaged in the battle against the climate and biodiversity crises for more than a decade, and when I first found out how much these crises are connected to the animal industry, it became a big part of my motivation as well.
Q: Is veganism well received in Denmark, and if so is it more because of health, ethics relating to animals, the environment/sustainability of food production, or a combination? How does this relate to the culture and society of the Danish?
I believe that people have an easier time accepting if you do it for health reasons. That way they do not feel attacked or obliged to adopt a similar lifestyle. Danish food culture involves a lot of meat, and we are the country in the world that produces the most meat per citizen, so it is a big part of our culture. And our populist right-wing party, the Danish People's Party, has been fighting to put more meat from pigs on the menu in public institutions for years, as they believe it is an important part of Danish culture.
So, it is a difficult battle, but change is definitely coming. Especially the young and climate-conscious Danes are eating more and more plant-based and most people know that our meat consumption is affecting the climate negatively. It is amazing to see how kids these days are asking their parents to eat more vegetables and not the other way around. The future is really on its way – even here in the most meat-producing country in the world.
Q: Staying with ethics but bringing it back to the fur ban, was there any ethical perception of mink farming among the Danish public that had a bearing on support for the fur ban?
Despite the fact that there were 17 million minks in Denmark, I actually discovered that before the corona crisis and the mink mutations, surprisingly many people were unaware that we had a mink production in Denmark. Before we closed the industry, there was to some extent public support for a ban on mink production, but it was less than half of the population. However, studies show that people, in general, did not want to shut down the industry due to animal ethics, because they worry about people losing their jobs. But the cull due to the corona crisis was widely supported.
I think that when the mink production is not here anymore and many mink breeders have found other work, more people will support a permanent ban. Why start an industry posing significant health risks and many animal rights issues when the people involved have been compensated economically and lots of them have been employed somewhere else? That would be absurd. And I believe many people would agree with me on that.
Q: How well are you able to align your principles regarding animals and environmental sustainability with the work of the Socialist People’s Party but also with the broader political agenda in Denmark? Have there been any notable conflicts or times when you've had to compromise for what you believed was the greater good?
I am a vegan in a non-vegan party. Therefore it is clear that at times I have some more hardcore and animal ethical principled views than the party I represent. But my party has been part of the climate and environmental movement almost as long as it has existed in Denmark, and more than 10 years ago we were the party that banned fox breeding. We work actively to reduce the Danes' meat consumption and ensure a more plant-based food production. So I can definitely see myself in the party I represent.
Besides that, I believe that it is important to differentiate between compromising in a situation and compromising yourself in a situation. I will gladly make compromises in order to secure a greener better world with less suffering, but I have to be able to look myself in the eye at the same time. This balance is very important to me.
I often end up in conflict with the rightwing or the labour party when talking about meat – and it also took the people some time to understand why I suddenly started to care so much about animal ethics, but I feel that I can make a difference. Overall, I would encourage more vegans to engage in politics. You really have the power to change some things there. It is not enough that we have people drawing attention to this from the outside - even though that is also extremely important and I have done that myself for years - we need more lawmakers that care about the wellbeing of animals.
The exploitation of animals is a structural problem, demanding new and better legislation - not just new dietary habits by individuals.
Q: The decision to cull all the mink in Denmark must have been very difficult. What was your involvement in arriving at that decision, and do you feel there was no other way? Was culling the only option firstly to prevent the spread of the mutated strain of Covid-19, and secondly to strengthen the case for a total ban?
I played a key role in making the government aware of the problem, and that the government in the end took the problem so seriously is definitely because of my work. It really was a hard decision, but it was necessary – and honestly, I do not find it problematic from an animal ethical perspective. Obviously, it is morally wrong and horrible to cull millions of animals, but if we had not done it, they would have died for their fur anyway. A couple of extra months in a cage would not have done them any good. I am only glad that they hopefully were the last generation of mink, suffering in small cages on Danish territory. That industry has been allowed for far too long, and it was about time that we did something about it.
Q: What is the next big thing you're working on in regards to animals and the environment?
I am working to ban the production of fast-growing chickens - the so-called turbo chickens. It is also an important focus for several animal rights organisations in Denmark. In relation to food, I am working with the Danish Vegetarian Society to pass a law that ensures that there is always a plant-based option in the public kitchens. I strongly believe that the green transition also comes by showing people how good and tasty plant-based food can be.
Last but not least, I am fighting with a number of other parties for a general tax on greenhouse gas emissions, which will naturally make it more expensive to buy and produce animal foods.
Denmark produces more than 30 million pigs per year. That is completely crazy in a country with 5.8 million people and the main reason why 60 per cent of Danish soil is being used for farming. We import insane amounts of soybeans from South America to feed animals. I believe it is time to take a stand against factory farming and especially the pig industry in Denmark, which is completely destructive as it works today. In Denmark, a pig has the right to 0.65 square meters of space in conventional pig production. It is a disgrace and we must not accept it.
Find Carl Valentin on thedanishparliament.dk.
Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager at Surge.
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