Dear CHEC Supporter,

My husband, Jim, and I founded CHEC after our five-year old daughter, Colette, died from a non-hereditary form of cancer. We did not know then how much CHEC would become a major part of our lives.

After more than a decade of hard work, CHEC is now America’s foremost institution fighting to protect children from suffering and death due to environmental toxins. We are thankful to help make such a difference to so many children and their families in the United States, and around the world. Your support makes CHEC’s research, education and advocacy possible.

Every year thousands of chemical products are introduced into our environment. Rarely are these chemicals fully tested to ensure their safety, and many, such as pesticides, are designed to damage or kill living organisms. Notwithstanding the danger, sometimes it seems that the industries that make these products and government agencies that regulate their use spend more time protecting business interests than people, including the most vulnerable, our children.

A January report released by the Centers for Disease Control reflects many of these concerns. The report highlights pesticide loads in children often exceed those in adults, and that children are much more vulnerable to toxins in the environment. The report emphasizes that standards for use of these dangerous chemicals were seldom adopted with children in mind. And, the report notes that when dangerous chemicals were properly regulated, their contamination of the environment and our bodies was diminished.

These highlights could have been taken directly from CHEC’s educational materials developed through the leadership of Elizabeth Sword, our Executive Director. Our expert staff and our internationally renowned Science Advisory Committee are among the nation’s leading advocates for protecting our children.

Thousands of families have visited this site, and have ordered our educational materials. Families are the front line of defense to help make sure that their homes, schools and communities are as safe as they can be, and CHEC’s web site is their most comprehensive and available source of information to help them to protect their children.

Our government agencies could help too by being more proactive about identifying dangerous chemical products and taking common sense regulatory measures to protect our children. The CDC report emphasizes that such measures can make a big difference. Citizens have a right to know about the dangers and a right to expect a sense of urgency by government agencies responsible for regulating these dangerous products.

CHEC’s ability to help ensure those rights will be enhanced by the addition of our newest member of the Board of Directors, Erin Brockovich. Erin is one of America’s most recognized advocates for citizens threatened by toxic chemicals. Her dedication to protect our environment and health, and now to play a leadership role in CHEC’s work deserves thanks from us all. To hear a short message from Erin and her advice on how we all can help go to:
http://www.checnet.org/smission_erin.asp

Erin’s law firm recently took legal action against a school system in Los Angeles operating a high school on top of a producing oil field. Common sense dictates that this should not have been allowed, but the problem is only now being addressed because of the abnormal occurrence of scores of cancers in former students.

How could this happen? That was the question too of Mara Silgailis, a mother in Cedar Grove, New Jersey who confronted her children’s school system for their cavalier administration of pesticide applications on school grounds. Her persistent efforts not only resulted in a wholesale change to a policy of integrated pest management for the school district, but the passage of the strongest state school pesticide law in the nation. CHEC members will read more about her work and the threat of pesticides to children in our next edition of the “CHEC Report”.

CHEC’s ability to provide the research, education and advocacy needed to sustain this national movement is only made possible through the generous support of people like yourself. Recent government budget cuts and the poor economy makes our work more difficult, but with your continued commitment and help, I feel we are creating the momentum that will reverse this neglect of our children’s health.

Positive change is difficult to cause, but history is punctuated by the differences people can make. Civilization happened because people demanded the rule of law and justice. Indignant over social wrongs and neglect, people corrected violations of the civil rights of women, children and minorities. People were fed up by the spectacle of rivers catching fire and the proliferation of unregulated chemical poisons in our environment, and the modern environmental movement was the result. Individuals can make a difference; we can cause change for the good.

We can make such a difference if we work smarter, harder and longer than those whose priorities we do not share. No child or family should suffer illness that can be prevented. That’s our commitment.

Sincerely,

Nancy Chuda, President

To find out more about the CDC report and the toxic chemicals threatening
our health go to:
http://www.checnet.org/healthehouse/education/articles-detail.asp?Main_ID=537

To learn how the Chudas have built a national movement to save other children and their families from preventable environmental tragedies go to:
http://www.checnet.org/about_ourstory.asp

You can help CHEC educate parents and influence policy makers to make our homes, schools and communities safer from chemical dangers by becoming a member and making a donation. It's easy! Just click here...