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by Lyle Hurd, editor of totalhealth
cofounder with her husband, James, of the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund and the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition
Nancy Gould Chuda is cofounder of the Colette Chuda Environmental Fund and cofounder and
president of the Children’s Health Environmental Coalition (CHEC). Both of these organizations
were established to honor the Chuda’s only child, Colette, who died in 1991 at the age of 5 of a
rare, non-genetic form of childhood cancer.
Ms. Chuda has been active in environmental health awareness and reform for over two
decades: as a broadcast journalist for three national broadcast networks, a full-time activist with
Mothers and Others in Los Angeles and in her present leadership roles in CHEC and CCEF.
IIn 1989, as a reporter for ABC broadcasting’s “The Home
Show,” she was one of a few reporters in the nation to do an indepth
story on “Intolerable Risks, Pesticides in Our Children’s
Food,” the first study of its kind by The Natural Resources
Defense Council. A related story on the toxicity of Alar, in which
she interviewed Meryl Streep and Wendy Gordon Rockefeller,
the chairs of “Mothers and Others for a Livable Planet,”
heightened Ms. Chuda’s concern about children’s health and
the environment and revealed to her the need for yet more indepth
reporting on children’s health issues.
In 1990 she coproduced a national variety television special
for ABC, “An Evening with Friends for the Environment,” which
starred Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, Cher, Robin
Williams, Olivia Newton-John and Lily Tomlin.
Since the founding of CHEC, Ms. Chuda has become wellknown
in legislative and professional forums on environmental
risk reduction and reform. She serves as an associate
of the Director’s Council of Public Representatives of the
National Institutes of Health (NIH) and was appointed to
serve as a member of the National Advisory Environmental
Health Sciences Council for the National Institutes of
Environmental Health Science (NIEHS). She is also on the
board of directors of Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition
Against the Misuse of Pesticides.
James Chuda is an independent, nationally board-certified
architect specializing in the creation of non-toxic living and
working environments that welcome healthful lifestyles both
physically and spiritually.
Placing environmental concerns foremost in his constructions
for 20 years, he has designed projects throughout
the continental United States, Hawaii, Canada and Panama.
His projects have ranged from residential designs for singlefamily
custom homes to the design of a new solar town
concept.
A dedicated environmentalist both professionally and personally,
James Chuda is the vice chair of The Colette Chuda
Environmental Fund, established with his wife Nancy in April
1991 in their daughter’s memory, and cofounder of The
Children’s Health Environmental Coalition. He has also served
on the Southern California advisory board of the Natural
Resources Defense Council, and sits on the board of directors
of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides. Mr.
Chuda received the 1996 “Environmental Leadership Award”
from the California League of Conservation Voters.
A message from CHEC’s cofounders Nancy and Jim Chuda
On May 23, 1990, our only child, at age 4, was diagnosed
with a non-hereditary form of childhood cancer called
Wilms’ tumor. A decade ago, a diagnosis of Wilms’ tumor
meant an 80 percent chance of survival.
Unfortunately, Colette Chuda’s diagnosis put her in a
different category. She was a stage 4. Her cancer had
already metastasized to the mediastinum and lungs.
Chances for a full recovery and survival were less than
10 percent.
For nearly a year she fought a brave battle while we
tried to make the right decisions to save her life.
She underwent several surgeries in an unsuccessful
attempt to remove the primary tumor in her left kidney,
followed by months of chemotherapy, which resulted in
hair loss, immune suppression and lack of appetite.
As a last recourse, with our consent, she underwent
several weeks of chest and abdominal radiation, which
rendered her sterile.
Colette Chuda passed on April 21, 1991 and in her
memory we founded The Children’s Health Environmental
Coalition.
We strongly believe that Colette’s cancer was the result
of an exposure to a toxin while in utero.
In March 1995 a study was published in the American
Journal of Epidemiology, “Parental Exposure to Pesticides
and Risk of Wilms’ tumor,” which concluded that
environmental exposures to toxins may contribute to the
development of Wilms’ tumor.
Many childhood diseases like Wilms’ tumor have been
linked to environmental exposures to toxins both in utero
and in early postnatal development.
Fourteen years ago very little was known about the
daily interactions and risks children and pregnant women
faced due to their cumulative exposures to toxic
chemicals.
Today more than 70,000 synthetic chemicals are currently
used in the U.S. and more than 6 trillion pounds of
them are released into our environment annually.
As parents who lost a child to a non-hereditary form of
cancer, we believe that Colette’s cancer could have been
prevented.
We founded CHEC to protect children. We believe
CHEC’s mission of prevention through education could
have saved our daughter’s life.
With your support, CHEC is helping to save children’s
lives.
With deep appreciation,
Nancy and James Chuda
Cofounders of CHEC
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