More than a million Made-in-China Boy Scout badges are being recalled for having unacceptably high lead levels, a US scouting spokesman said Friday.
"During a routine test of products, Boy Scouts of America found that one component of a totem, a cub scout recognition item, contains unacceptable amounts of lead" said Gregg Shields, a spokesman for the Dallas, Texas-based group.
There was no incident reported linked to the recognition badges worn on the uniforms of boys aged 7-8.
But the scouts asked all members to hand them in where they were purchased, and ordered them off the market.
"We have directed all of our shops and retailers who sell the products to remove it from their shelves immediatly and (maker) Kahoot has called for a voluntary consumer recall and urged anyone who may have purchased the item to remove it from their children's possession," the spokesman added.
Lead can cause learning disabilities in children if it enters the bloodstream. It has been illegal in US paints since 1978.
The US consumer safety agency on Thursday announced the recall of more than 635,000 Chinese-made toys, key chains and other products that contain unsafe levels of lead or pose a choking hazard.
China has been hit by a spate of product recalls, including toys and baby cribs, that have sullied the "Made-in-China" brand in the United States and elsewhere around the world.
China is the world's top toy exporter, selling 22 billion toys overseas last year, or 60 percent of the globe's total.
