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Denmark gets its first vegan political party

Party Founders Vindfeldt (left) and Monberg (right).© Photabulous!

Veganerpartiet, the first vegan party in Denmark has arrived and wants to put the vegan ideology on the Danish political agenda.

Party founders are 40-year-old Michael Monberg (shown above right) and 27-year-old Henrik Vindfeldt (shown above left). Initial efforts will focus on getting enough public support to get into the Danish parliament.

"We started the party because we didn't see enough political attention being directed towards the horrible conditions these animals go through to become nothing less than pizza topping nor the major impacts it has on the environment and on public health. It is known that animal agriculture has a large negative impact on the environment and that consuming animal products leads to many lifestyle deceases. We want to inform the politicians and the public about the benefits of veganism for the environment, public health and ethics and to introduce ethical legislation that complements this", says Henrik Vindfeldt, co-founder of Veganerpartiet.

The party became widely known last October during what has later become known as 'bacon gate'; an episode where Henrik Vindfeldt wanted to discuss the miserable conditions for animals in Danish agriculture with Denmark's Minister of Environment and Food during the opening day of the Danish Parliament. The minister replied, "I simply can't express with words how much I love bacon". The controversy that ensued laid the foundation for the new vegan party.

The next Danish election will be held within three months and the Vegan Party hopes to be elected to put the animals on the political agenda in Denmark as well as in foreign policy.

Their primary goal is "to work for a better environment, better public health, animal rights, sensible use of material resources and to phase out/dismantle the human exploitation of animals".

The party's key issues, all rooted in veganism, are animal rights, environment and public health. This is expected to lead to a major showdown with the Danish meat and fur production breeding, responsible for killing more than 33 million pigs, 125 million broilers and 17 million minks every year.

Facts about veganism in Denmark: