Ever since I heard Healthy Child Healthy World co-founder Nancy Chuda’s story of losing her five-year-old daughter Colette to cancer caused by pesticide exposure, my mission has been to build awareness of this issue so I created this five-minute guide to protecting your kids from pesticides.

Here’s why protecting kids from pesticides is so important:

• Pesticide exposure has been linked to asthma, allergies, autism and even cancer—rates of which have risen 30% in 30 years and now kill more kids than asthma, diabetes, AIDS, cystic fibrosis and birth defects combined.
• Most of our children’s pesticide exposure comes from the foods that they eat—but just one day of eating differently can remove most pesticides from their bodies completely.
• Household exposure to pesticides—from pest eradication products and food—is now shown to have the same negative effects on pregnancy as cigarette smoking: lower birth weight and earlier labor.

Meanwhile, take five minutes to learn a few simple steps that you can take in your own home to protect your kids from pesticides — for life.

Follow Rachel on Twitter at @rachellsarnoff for her updates on breaking news as it relates to children’s environmental health.