twinkle light's toxic secret

We needed to buy some new strands of lights for our Christmas tree this year, and while carefully reading the instructions I came across this - "Caution: Handling the coated electrical wires of this product exposes you to lead, a chemical known to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.  Wash hands thoroughly after use."   Who knew?  We bought two different kinds of lights, and this warning was only on one of them, however.