Chinese-made Scout badge recalled for lead
Cub Scouts across the country are being asked to hand in some of their badges after the Boy Scouts of America announced Friday that more than a million of the Chinese-made items contained potentially hazardous levels of lead paint.
“No illness related to the product has been reported to us,” said Gregg Shields, the Boy Scouts’ national spokesman. “We’re just trying to be prepared and keep everyone safe.”
The diamond-shaped plastic “totem” badges have a blue and yellow border, say “Progress toward ranks” and show a wolf head and a bear head. About 1.5 million were distributed, by Georgia-based Kahoot Products Inc. They were in the Cub Scouts’ Immediate Recognition Kit.
Cub Scouts ages 7 and 8 earn the badges by completing tasks, including memorizing the Cub Scout motto, sign, handshake and salute, and mastering an elective such as caring for a pet, growing a plant indoors or making a stencil pattern, Shields said.
The badges are the latest on a long list of Chinese-made products -- including bibs, lunchboxes and toys -- that have been recalled in recent months because of lead paint and other safety hazards.
Shields said the Boy Scouts recently began testing its U.S. suppliers’ Chinese-made products. Out of 94 items, only the blue-and-yellow totem badges were found to have lead in excess of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission standards.
Lead paint has been banned in the United States since 1978 because of lead’s link to neurological problems, particularly in children.
The Boy Scouts of America forwarded to local councils a letter from Kahoot dated Tuesday saying that until recall details were formalized, “we urge all consumers to remove the Cub Scout Recognition totem badge from the Scout’s possession” and keep it where only adults can reach it.
Long Beach Area Council Scout Executive Lee Martin said it was good the recall occurred early in the fall, because his group sold most of its badges in November and December. Scouts start working on earning the badges at the beginning of the school year.
A Kahoot representative could not be reached, but a recorded phone message said the company learned of the problem Sept. 27 and notified the Boy Scouts on Tuesday. The recording tells parents their child probably didn’t ingest any lead: “The paint on the badge is very robust in its ability to adhere to the badge and does not flake off.”
West Los Angeles Troop 1 Scoutmaster Harlan Hogue said, “When we go into the Scout Shop, a majority of things are made someplace else.”
Hogue said he had no problem with foreign-made products as long as they were adequately inspected and safe for use. But the recent recalls of Chinese-made products has him wondering whether that’s possible.
“It’s unfortunate -- products stamped ‘Made in China’ seem to contain lead paint,” he said. “It’s one thing after another.”
Some badges used by the Girl Scouts of the USA are also made in China, but they are made of fabric rather than plastic, a spokeswoman said.
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