Klean Kanteen is recalling 1.2 million of its "Sport Cap 2.0" water bottle drinking spouts sold in the U.S. The recall comes after the company received six reports of "water bottle spouts breaking or cracking in children’s mouths as they were drinking from the bottles," the CPSC announced today.

The recall is also being directed to Canadian consumers, who purchased over 100,000 of the potentially hazardous water bottle tops.

Prior to the development of the 2.0 cap last year, Klean Kanteen used an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) cap designed and licensed by a contractor. The in-house design (still manufactured in China) was seen as a significant step for a small company that had scaled up quickly and with some difficulty after issues like BPA and water-bottle waste became mainstream issues in 2007 and 2008 and demand for the stainless steel water bottles skyrocketed. The company also capitalized aggressively on troubles at competitor SIGG, using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to tout their own trustworthiness and the advantages of stainless steel bottles. At Z Recommends we received a record number of unsolicited testimonials for Klean Kanteen products on posts discussing water bottles, although there was no direct evidence these were coming from the company.

Klean Kanteen has had plans to develop their own design of toddler sippy spout for several years. The company currently uses Avent parts for a sippy spout for its smaller water bottles.

We ranked the Klean Kanteen Wide Mouth Water Bottle among the Top Picks in the ZRecs 2009 Water Bottle Showdown, and ranked the Klean Kanteen sippy in the Middle Tier of our 2009 Sippy Cup Showdown. The Klean Kanteen bottle with the sport top was named an alternative recommended option, although we disliked various features of the sport top lid.

To return a defective cap and receive a replacement, fill out the request form on Klean Kanteen's website. Company reps will then send you a prepaid envelope in which to ship your cap(s) back to them, after which they will send you replacements. You can contact the company at (877) 546-9063 if you have questions.