Cub Scout Badges Recalled
A plastic badge awarded to Cub Scouts is being recalled by the Boy Scouts of America because it may contain excessive levels of lead paint.
The recalled badge — made in China — is the “Immediate Recognition Kit,” which has been distributed to an estimated 1.7 million Cub Scouts nationwide.
The badges have been sold for “seven to eight years,” and about 20,000 recognition kits are sold annually to Cub Scout den leaders, a Scout spokesman said.
The badges being recalled are for the Cubs who are 7 and 8 years old. The badge has a yellow-and-blue border, includes a picture of a bear and wolf and reads “Progress Toward Ranks.”
Kahoot Products Inc., the company that supplies the badges, notified the national Scout organization earlier this week about its concerns that the totem badges may contain lead levels in excess of U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) standards in the paint.
In a letter to the Scouts, the president of Kahoot, Chuck Kelderhouse, wrote: “We urge all consumers to remove the Cub Scout Recognition totem badge from the Scouts’ possession and that it be kept in a safe place where only adults will have access to them.”
Instructions for returning the product will be announced once the formal recall is announced by the CPSC, Kahoot said.