Dr. Richard Denton of Sudbury, Ontario, Canada brought to my
attention just days ago a British Medical Journal series stating that
war/military is a social determinant of health. Arms industry as a
commercial determinant of health | The BMJ\
War is profitable to some, profoundly deadly to others, and most are not directly
from violence.
CONTEXT: If wars or even the fear of war persists
there will always be a profiting arms industry.
Security (survival) is the first goal of every life form. Thriving, the second, quickly follows. Humankind has reached a point in our evolution
where only half of us is thriving while our weapon systems are so powerful they
could end civilization as we know it - or end our species. Humankind must rapidly find a way to
transform our current global governance and economic systems, or this spiral of
chaos will continue to accelerate. Most
importantly – humankind must figure out quickly what we want most. Temporary
peace with profiting weapons investors or sustainably maximizing the health of
people and the planet.
Human flourishing must urgently become our collective
priority. But without a guarantee of
security from wars the Arms industry will continue to flourish - while
humankind will continue to lose nearly ten times more lives from infectious
disease (new, remerging, or poverty related), extreme weather events/conditions,
occasional natural disasters, and violent extremist movements (domestic and global)
largely driven by real grievances or delusional religious beliefs – than from violent
conflicts. Lethal conflicts are often driven by poverty, injustices, or extreme
weather conditions. This series brings up the same old “Guns or Butter”
logic. There is no shortage of money in
the world to do both. Preventable deaths
by both wars or a lack of funding on basic health needs happens even when there
are no wars. Both are the product of a lack
of political will in world flush with dozens of trillions of dollars stashed in Off-shore
and now Crypto currency. If those with
money want their lives and their families’ lives to be secure and to sustain nature’s
systems which sustain us all, they urgently need to invest in stopping wars and
in preventing them. Prevention being the
key word. That is the foundation of health.
Our species’ wisest investment would be funding
the UN Sustainable Development Goals ASAP. It may not stop all the wars, but it
will prevent some - while addressing the root causes of violence, the greater
killers linked to poverty and environmental destruction. All while building resilience -- until we decide
to transform our obviously flawed human engineered systems. If we were a wise species, this should have been
started on September 12, 2001. Some were
calling for it. But those in power were
happy with the UN status quo - ‘the law of force’ vs the force of law.
The BMJ Series focuses on the arms
industry as a commercial determinant of health and uncovers the role of the
arms trade in health. It calls for more scrutiny of its health-harming
activities and its unhealthy relationship with governments.
An international group of experts lay out the direct and
wider harms of arms and show how weapons manufacturers use commercial
strategies to subvert public health agendas and shape discourse around security
and violence.
The Series argues that, like the tobacco, alcohol, and
fossil fuel industries, the arms industry should be seen as a commercial
determinant of health, where corporate practices matter as much as products
when considering how industries can harm health.
Editorial: Peace
dividends in the age of armament
Jocalyn Clark and Kamran Abbasi urge closer scrutiny of the arms
industry at a time when defence spending threatens health
https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1794
Countering
the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health
Mohammed Abba-Aji and Nason Maani outline research, policy, and practice
priorities
https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1784
Analysis: Weapons,
wealth, and health: the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health.
As governments worldwide increase defence spending and arms company
revenues climb, we urgently
need to examine how the
industry (and not just its products) influences health, argue Mark Bellis and
colleagues https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj-2025-086166
Weapons
of influence: tactics of a growing arms industry and needed health actions
Health professionals must do more to counterbalance the arms industry’s
influence on government, media, finance, and science and its damaging effects
on human and planetary health, argue Mark Bellis and colleagues https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj-2025-086167
Opinion: War is a
global health crisis: community based action can confront it
As defence spending swells at the expense of human security, healthcare
professionals must recentre health as a global priority, writes Zahraa Kapasi
from Medact
https://www.bmj.com/content/390/bmj.r1820
No comments:
Post a Comment