It seems like yesterday that I read the story of little Colette Chuda, age 5, who suddenly became stricken with Wilm’s Tumor, a cancer that unfortunately took her life. The parents wanted to know if this was something genetic or did Colette succumb to something present in the environment and their search began.
As stated in their own story on Healthy Child, Healthy World, It would take four years for their fears to be confirmed. In March 1995, they received a newly released study, “Parental Exposure to Pesticides and Risk of Wilm’s Tumor in Brazil” (1995), published by the American Journal of Epidemiology. The study revealed a link between parental pesticide use before pregnancy and the age of the child at the time of the diagnosis of Wilm’s Tumor. It said that maternal exposure to pesticides was most likely a cause of the disease when the tumor was diagnosed 48 months after the child’s birth. Colette was diagnosed when she was four years old — at exactly 48 months of age.
Because of this tragedy and the fact that Colette’s death could have been avoided, the Chuda’s, along with friends, raised funds to launch the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund (CCEF) to support scientific research on the risks to children from environmental toxics. They also began a movement among parents to be more aware of the toxins in our environment and founded Healthy Child, Healthy World, a wonderful blog that is continually reaching parents worldwide with important issues on how to keep our children safe.
The following video is just an example of their work. I highly recommend this site and want to join with the million of other households who can “make a difference” by eliminating household toxins as much as possible. I chose to do this 19 years ago with these products and have a passion to share it with as many households as possible.