Commercial practices of the arms industry and implications for global public health: a scoping review

The arms industry and the global trade in weapons pose significant direct and indirect risks to population health and equity. While health-harming industries such as tobacco, alcohol, and ultra-processed foods have been extensively examined with a commercial determinants of health lens, the commercial strategies of the arms industry remain critically underexplored in public health research. To address this gap, we conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature published between 2004 and 2024. Searches were undertaken across four academic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, ABI/INFORM, and Business Source Complete) and Google Scholar. Data were extracted and analysed using deductive and inductive coding, guided by a previously published typology of commercial practices: financial, political, scientific, marketing, supply chain and waste, labour and employment, and reputational management practices.

Forty-one studies met the inclusion criteria. Marketing and political practices were the most frequently reported, while supply chain and waste, financial, labour and employment, reputational management, and scientific practices were less common. Our review found that the arms industry not only engages in commercial practices identified within established commercial determinants of health frameworks but also employs additional strategies, such as bribery and corruption, worker surveillance, contesting worker illness claims, and a number of supply chain practices that extend beyond existing typologies. The majority of studies focused on firearms-related practices, particularly within the United States, while few addressed other arms industry sub-sectors such as major conventional weapons and nuclear weapons, and little attention was given to low- and middle-income countries.

Despite the scale and influence of the arms industry, its commercial sector practices remain largely overlooked in public health research. Greater scrutiny and recognition of the arms industry as a commercial determinant of health is essential to mitigate the health harms and inequities associated with the global production, proliferation, and use of weapons.