UCLA gets award for environmental stability
UCLA is a recipient of the seventh annual Renew America National
Awards for Environmental Stability for its use of fuel gas from the
Mountaingate Landfill and for its water conservation and recycling
program.
Renew America is a coalition of 60 environmental, non-profit
government and business organizations that presents awards to
programs that show leadership and excellence in environmental
sustainability.
"UCLA is honored to receive the Renew America Environmental
Sustainability award," said David N. Johnson, director of UCLA’s
Energy Services. "UCLA has made a tremendous effort to minimize the
environmental impact of our energy facility, while ensuring that
the campus mission is supported by economic and reliable
energy."
Renew America is honoring 24 winners in 23 different
environmental issues such as transportation efficiency and solid
waste management. UCLA was selected from more than 1,600
applicants.
"By recognizing these innovative programs, we motivate these
individuals to continue their efforts and provide others with
successful models and the information necessary to initiate
programs like these in their own communities," said Debbie Sliter,
Renew America’s executive director.
The awards dinner will be held on Feb. 19 in Washington,
D.C.
No harm from Prozac found in pregnancy
A reassuring new study found no sign that taking Prozac during
pregnancy can harm a woman’s unborn child.
Prozac is the most widely prescribed medicine for depression. It
is taken by more than 12 million people worldwide. While Prozac is
not thought to cause major birth defects, some wondered whether it
might cause subtle harm to babies’ brains.
The new study turned up no evidence that women who take Prozac
or a variety of medicines called tricyclic antidepressants during
pregnancy in any way affected their children’s IQs, language
development or behavior.
"I am very confident that if a woman needs antidepressants, she
should continue them during pregnancy, because the risk of not
being treated is much bigger than any risk of the drug," said Dr.
Gideon Koren of the University of Toronto. His study was published
in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Pregnant women who suffer from depression are often told to stop
taking their medicines because of the possibility of harm to the
unborn child. Koren said some women end up getting abortions or
even attempting suicide because they cannot bear their
depression.
The issue surfaced again in October, when a team from the
University of California at San Diego published a study in the New
England Journal of Medicine raising the possibility that Prozac
increases the risk of premature delivery and some minor newborn
health problems.
The researchers acknowledged that these complications could be a
result of the mental condition that prompted the use of the drug,
not the medicine itself. Because of shortcomings in the study, some
experts discounted it.
The March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation recommended that
pregnant women try to avoid taking the drug until its effects have
been studied better. It added that women should not stop taking
Prozac during pregnancy without first consulting their doctors.
Dr. Richard Johnston, medical director of the March of Dimes,
called the latest study "great news," but added: "It doesn’t wipe
the slate clean of the concerns raised by the earlier study."
Koren’s study is one of at least six that have found no
significant danger to using Prozac during pregnancy. It involved 80
children whose mothers received a tricyclic antidepressant during
pregnancy, 55 whose mothers got Prozac and 84 whose mothers did not
take any of these medicines.
Compiled from Daily Bruin staff and wire reports