UnderGuardian

Mark Monson is the inventor and owner of UnderGuardian™. He has been a firefighter for 26 years, 20 as a volunteer and 18 years as a career firefighter; currently a Captain and Paramedic in St. Paul, Minnesota. Throughout the years, he has seen many of his fellow firefighters battle cancer. Most commonly: testicular, bladder, colon and stomach cancers. Rather than accepting this as a risk of the job, he starting to wonder if there was more he could do. Mark extensively researched the risks of what firefighters face everyday, including how working in hazardous environments effect the body. He learned that not only do we need to protect our airways, but protecting our skin is also essential. Firefighting is a dangerous profession, and a growing body of research and data shows the contributions that job-related exposures have in chronic illnesses, such as cancer and heart disease. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently undertook two large studies focused on firefighter related cancer and concluded that firefighters face a 9 percent increase in cancer diagnoses, and a 14 percent increase in cancer-related deaths, compared to the general population in the U.S. To reduce these numbers, Mark studied the problem, he identified a solution; and then decided to create a clothing line to prevent such chronic illnesses. He gave several pairs of shorts away to fellow firefighters for beta testing, and paid for independent testing to prove the manufacturer’s claims. Now the results are in! Mark's line of clothing is comfortable, durable, affordable, and safe in blocking 98% of particulates .10 micron or greater. We hope that someday every firefighter in America will be wearing Mark's “Made in USA” UnderGuardian™ apparel, and together we can reduce firefighter cancer. When a fellow firefighter asked his wife, “Can we afford to spend money on a pair of shorts?” Her reply was, “Can we afford not to?"