{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.019938650306748466, 'fraction_numerical': 0.006134969325153374, 'mean_word_length': 4.904977375565611, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Deadly business - a public health case against the British Arms Industry

The devastating global health impact of the arms trade has been well documented, and yet the United Kingdom remains the world’s second largest ‘defence’ exporter. The Middle East is a major market for the UK, and accounted for just under half of Britain’s total arms exports in 2017. UK weapons sales to Saudi Arabia remain controversial, with concerns that they may have been used to commit violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) during the ongoing war in Yemen. There is an inherent contradiction between the UK’s position as one of the largest global exporters of arms and its stated commitment to strengthening global peace, security and good governance. This commentary examines the public health impacts of the UK arms trade in the context of exports to Saudi Arabia – many of which are subsequently used in Yemen – and argues that there is an ethical responsibility to regulate any industry whose products demonstrably cause such severe and far-reaching damage to population health. It draws parallels with the enactment of the Clean Air Act of 1956, in response to London’s ‘killer smog’, to argue that a similarly robust legislative response to the British arms industry is warranted on public health grounds.