EPA Issues Lead Test Regulation 405b; Pace Expects Strong Sales for Test Device.

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 16, 1996-- PACE CORP.(CANADIAN DEALING NETWORK PACL. ) The Pace Corporation today announced that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's recently issued Regulation 405b has resulted in a doubling of enquiries concerning the Company's electronic lead testing device, PaceScan.

The Company expects demand for its US$4,000-5,000 PaceScan units, which utilize disposable electrodes, to exceed 20 per month by the end of the first quarter of 1997 and to remain strong thereafter.

Experience gained to date by the initial users of PaceScan indicates each unit consumes some $250-500 per month in sales of single use electrodes.

The new EPA regulation determines the minimum standards by which lead-based paint and other lead contamination may be detected, who may perform such tests, and what quality control criteria must be met. Most importantly, the EPA now recognizes in-field testing as being equivalent to mobile and fixed site testing units. Now that the EPA has officially sanctioned their use, lead inspectors will feel equally confident in equipping themselves with in-field units such as PaceScan as they were with the well-established fixed site methods.

Dr. Jeremy Clapp, President of Pace, believes that the Company's PaceScan device is the only technology available which permits an inspector to meet the EPA standards while obtaining instantaneous, reliable, and quantitative test results in the field equivalent to fixed site laboratories employing high-cost instruments.

The EPA's Regulation 405b is a key step in the U.S. Government's announced multi-billion-dollar plan to eradicate lead poisoning over the next 20 years. The Government has declared that lead contamination has created the country's greatest single public health problem, manifested most notably in children suffering both mental impairment and behavioral disorders.

The Government's umbrella legislation was signed into law by former President George Bush (Omnibus Bill, Title X) in 1992. The Bill ordered the EPA to write regulations to protect the public from the toxic effect of lead. The first important regulation within Title X became fully effective December 6 of this year and requires disclosures of information concerning lead-based paint in homes built before 1978. Because failures by a real estate professional to comply with the information requirement could result in penalties involving stiff fines and/or loss of their real estate license, the past President of the National Lead Abatement Council, Mr. Kenn White, has said that the in-field lead testing market "is going to explode".

Regulation 405b also defines the type of Quality Control procedures that must be used when testing for lead. Pace had anticipated such regulation and has developed a line of quality control products sold under the name PaceTrol. The only suppliers of this type of product line are Pace and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), a government agency. The regulation specifically requests that laboratories do not use the government controls when another source is available. This niche market is estimated to be several million dollars in size per annum.

Pace has already seen greatly increased sales of the Lead Alert Kits in 1996 through distribution to such companies as Home Depot and Loews. The Company forecasts continued increases throughout 1997 and beyond, driven by consumer market forces. Dr. Clapp added that the passage of Regulation 405b sets the basis for similar growth with PaceScan and subsequent profitability for Pace in 1997. He also noted that Pace has prepared a synopsis of the regulations, legislation experience and how they affect both society at large and the Company. Copies are available at no charge.

The Pace Corporation is an international company which develops, manufactures, markets and distributes easy to use, accurate and cost effective medical diagnostic and environmental test kits. Its primary areas of interest are the early differential diagnosis of heart damage, North America's number one killer, and the detection and evaluation of lead poisoning in children, the largest environmental issue in the history of the United States.

Shares of the Pace Corporation are traded on the Canadian Dealing Network (PACL).

CONTACT: The Pace Corporation

Dr. Jeremy Clapp, 905/709-1196

or

Hume, Kieran Inc.

Jon W. Kieran, 416/868-1079

or

Hume, Kieran Inc.

Cathy Hume, 416/868-1079