Mom's Crusade Against Food Allergies

Robyn O'Brien had the scare of her life when her nine-month-old daughter almost died after eating some scrambled eggs. She says Tory O'Brien's "entire face was swollen shut . . . and it was terrifying."

In the year-plus since, the Boulder, Colo. woman has become what Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith calls an "agitator for the rights of kids with food allergies," taking on big-business in the process.

The mother of four founded AllergyKids.com, and developed a unique symbol -- an exclamation point in an octagon -- she hopes catches on as a way of letting others know a child has such an allergy.

Allergykids.com markets several accessories that could go with young children to places such as schools and birthday parties, where accidental food reactions happen most. Some are, O'Brien told Smith, "particularly useful on the backs of babies when they're in nurseries."

Accessory-maker Jibbitz, along with Crocs Shoes, and green retailers such as Wild Oats see a market for such products, since members of one-family-in-eight have food allergies.

Some 11 million Americans have such allergies and, from 1997 to 2002, allergies to peanuts alone doubled in children under five, according to the Food Allergy Institute and the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network.

But getting the symbol out there was just the first step.

O'Brien, an MBA, took a closer look at the ingredients she was feeding her kids, and was shocked to find what she calls "a chemical cocktail in every bite that they are eating."

She put her family on an all-organic diet, joining what Smith says is "a growing constituency of moms unglued by the rising number of chemicals, genetically altered organisms and synthetic hormones in everyday food."

O'Brien's husband, Jeff O'Brien says that, since the switch to organic foods, the O'Brien kids "feel better, they sleep better, they can focus more in school, its made a big difference in our family."

Now, Robyn O'Brien and her network of moms are campaigning for independent studies outside the food industry. She says, "We're tired of having the industry-funded experts tell us what's safe for our kids."

O'Brien's fight for independent studies has drawn critics, but she knows she has the clout of moms on her side, saying, "You have mother bears protecting their cubs, and it's an amazing power."

Her efforts have brought celebrity muscle.

Crusader-mom Erin Brockovich, depicted in the Oscar-winning film that bears her name, helped O'Brien make contacts.

And O'Brien made fast friends with Paul Newman's daughter, Nell, who runs the organic division of Newman's Own. Says Nell Newman, "I definitely support what she's doing. ... It's problem-solving, and I think problem-solving is what's important, as opposed to getting hysterical about an issue."