Comment on: Sullivan-Kwantes W, Goodman L. The new cold war. Temperature. 2017;4(4). doi:10.1080/23328940.2017.1381799
Sullivan-Kwantes and Goodman1 provided an interesting and important editorial regarding cold weather operations and the challenges of performing occupational and military tasks in cold weather. Despite the political debate regarding global warming, the reality is that rising temperatures have resulted in considerable commercial and military interests and activities in the arctic regions. Thus, an increasing number of workers and military personal will be performing physical work outdoors while exposed to extreme cold weather. It is recognized that humans demonstrate a limited ability to acclimatize to cold stress, and that cold exposure severely impacts on physical performance and often results in cold injury.2–4 Nonfreezing and freezing cold injuries are debilitating and resulted in a tremendous cost burden after World War I, World War II and the Korean Conflict. It is important that military and occupational organizations invest in cold research regarding physiology, medical treatments and, importantly, engineering novel protective approaches.
References
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