WFAA-TV

With the holiday season in full tilt, one word strikes fear in the hearts of parents and charities alike - lead.

Lead has turned up in and on many popular toys resulting in recall after recall.

“All we have left are just the basic colored, plastic bowls and cups,” Donitta Palmier said about her newly cleaned-out kitchen cabinets. She has also carefully examined the toys her 5-year-old son Kristoffer loves, purging her home of everything she knows contains lead.

Dangerously high lead levels have turned up in millions of products Americans have in their homes.

It’s a serious concern, certainly, but should consumers be scared?

“Just having a high lead level doesn’t necessarily mean it’s dangerous,” said Mike Yudizky of North Texas Poison Control.

He said recent reports have been truthful, but they’ve also been misleading. Yudizky notes lead must be ingested – or eaten – to be a problem.

Older homes coated in lead paint were considered a serious danger because toddlers chewed on window sills, swallowing paint chips. But doctors say it takes months – even years – of exposure to develop ailments.

Yudizky said it would not be dangerous for someone to wear a piece of jewelry with lead in it as long as it doesn’t get put in the mouth.

One of the latest concerns dealt with lead in artificial Christmas trees.

“I would be far more worried about being electrocuted working on my Christmas lights than I would be by exposed to lead,” said Yudizky. “And it’s the same thing with those toys and your children. We’re a whole lot more worried about a child choking than we are about the lead content.”

Even so, Palmier would rather be safe than sorry.

“I don’t think as a mom, you can ever be too paranoid when it’s concerning your child,” she said. “You always have to do whatever’s best for them. Absolutely. Safety comes first.”