From WIBV-TV, Buffalo:

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - - The North Park Branch Library located at 2351 Delaware Ave., will be closed temporarily as of Friday, April 25, 2008.

During a recent construction assessment to repair plaster walls, lead paint readings came back elevated. The highest elevated levels reported are confined to window areas of the library that are enclosed in plastic for energy savings.

As a precaution and to ensure the safety of staff and patrons, in consultation with the Library's Board of Trustees, B&ECPL Director Bridget Quinn-Carey has decided to temporarily close the library. "While we do not believe that our staff or patrons are at risk for lead exposure, we have decided to err on the side of caution and temporarily close the facility until further assessments and remediation work can be done," Quinn-Carey said.

"The highest elevated levels reported are confined to window areas of the library that are enclosed in plastic for energy savings." And the risk is, what, that children will claw throught the plastic, repeatedly, to eat ALL the paint from windowsills, over the course of years?

You have to wonder how often this sort of expensive overreaction is going on. Any dispassionate risk analysis has been buried by litigation, media hype and government-expanding politicians.

(More at Shopfloor.org.)