SC researcher receives $100,000 Heinz award

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — A Medical University of South Carolina scientist who conducted research on the effects of toxins on wildlife has received a $100,000 award from the Heinz Family Foundation.

The unrestricted award announced Tuesday goes to Louis J. Guillette, a reproductive biologist, endocrinologist and professor known worldwide for research on how toxic chemicals affect the reproductive systems of alligators and other wildlife.

He is considered a pioneer for showing how wildlife can serve as sentinels for environmental contamination.

In the late 1980s, Guillette and his team showed that DDT and other chemicals in Lake Apopka, Florida were causing reproductive abnormalities in wildlife.

He is one of 10 winners of the foundation’s awards.