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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HECKMAN HONORED FOR EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF SPI

Washington (June 1, 2000) — Jerome H. Heckman, general counsel for The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. (SPI) has been chosen to receive a Special Citation Award from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA).

The award, which will be presented by the agency's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at a ceremony on June 23, is in recognition of Heckman's achievement for "sustained and successful participation in the establishment of a new, fully funded system for FDA's approval of food contact substances."

Heckman was informed that his selection marks the first time the Director's Special Citation Award has been given to someone outside the U.S. government.

The SPI counsel is being honored for his efforts regarding the FDA's pre-market notification program, which significantly reduces the time it takes for the agency to approve new food packaging materials. The approval process change, which was conceived by Heckman, was part of the FDA Modernization Act of 1997; $6 million in funding for the program was approved by Congress late in 1999.

The effort represented a major victory for SPI, which had proposed the original change in the law that reduces the approval time for food-contact substances from two to four (2-4) years to a 120-day pre-market notification period. SPI then led the campaign to secure funding to implement the program, which is expected to save the industry millions of dollars annually in package development costs while expediting new materials that will improve food safety and protect public health.

In a letter announcing the award, Center Director Joseph A. Levitt said Heckman was chosen because he had "provided invaluable assistance to FDA."

"To be selected for special recognition should be most satisfying," Levitt told Heckman, "since accomplishments such as yours impact the well being of the public."

Heckman is a founding partner of the Washington-based law firm of Keller & Heckman, LLP, and a recognized expert in food and drug law. He has served as SPI's general counsel since 1954. Heckman was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1986 and presently is president of the Plastics Academy, the organization that manages the Plastics Hall of Fame. He has been a member of the Board of Editors of the Food Drug Cosmetic Law Journal; has authored more than 125 papers on issues involving food and drug packaging, product liability and trade associations; and is a frequent speaker on food and drug matters.

Founded in 1937, The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc., (SPI) is the trade association representing the fourth-largest manufacturing industry in the United States. SPI's nearly 1700 members represent the entire plastics industry supply chain, including processors, machinery and equipment manufacturers and raw material suppliers. The U.S. plastics industry employs 1.5 million workers and provides $304 billion in annual shipments.

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