Issac Bailey | A warning about warning labels

The FDA is betting on the shock factor to convince roughly 45 million Americans to give up smoking.

Nice idea, but while fear is a great short-term motivator it can't be the bedrock of sustained lifestyle changes.

We've already proved that.

In September of 2001, this country pulled together across political and racial lines to combat the bogeyman that visited fear on us, not via shadows under our beds, but with hijacked airplanes.

Most of us were willing to endure anything in the immediate aftermath to make the fear subside. Now? We are more concerned about inconvenient airport patdowns than another terrorist attack, and are as politically polarized as we've ever been.

Some comprehensive sex education and health classes present color photos of the grotesque things that result from STDs, including cold sores in sensitive areas and deformed, ill-colored genitals. Students are usually grossed out - but later give in to the overwhelming force of teenage hormones.

Talk show hosts bring on medical professionals carrying disgusting see-through plastic bags of actual human fat during segments designed to spur more people to embrace dieting. It may cause some of the audience members to skip a burger later that day but doesn't stop them from gorging on junk food the next.

The list of failed scare tactics is long, including the shockumentary "The Living Hell" shown in some evangelical churches, like the one in which I grew up. Among other things, it includes a scene with an unrepentant motorcyclist's brain matter scattered on the pavement after an accident but before he could be "born again," relegating him to an eternity of hell fire, as a warning to all to choose what the filmmakers believe is the right path.

Drug dealers in this area have seen friends shot down in the street like dogs but are convinced they won't meet the same fate.

If scare tactics were successful, we would post a photo of a girl being raped and a young man being handcuffed on every keg and beer bottle sold near a college campus because alcohol abuse is the primary factor in most date rapes.

Or put a picture of a 700-pound man in bed, trapped by his own body and soiling himself on the wrapping of every McDonald's Double Quarter Pounder.

The Food and Drug Administration's new anti-smoking campaign that calls for gruesome new labels covering half the surface of cigarette packs in 2012 may earn a few headlines. And it may inspire columnists, such as those who write for thisnewspaper, to ponder their pros and cons.

But it won't work. Studies from other countries already using similar tactics have shown that smokers briefly think more about quitting or the dangers - then light up another cigarette any way.

Smokers already know the risks. They know they are increasing the chances that their lives will be taken too early and painfully. They may not know the number of people who die in the U.S. every year from smoking - about 450,000 - but they know it's a lot.

Fear doesn't motivate smokers for the same reason the death penalty doesn't curb crime.

There's too much lag time in between the events - smoking and death and a crime and an execution. Design a cigarette so powerful that after one puff, the smoker keels over or instantly gets cancer, now that would get their attention.

Short of that, unless a smoker commits to the belief that his life and the impact of his actions on those he loves are more important than a coffin stick, nothing will deter them.

Hot/cold packs find many uses

Here’s a different kind of spring craft, one that’s more functional than fun: a hot/cold pack to soothe away the aches and pains of spring gardening.

I have several of these little gems scattered throughout my home and, even one at work. They are perfect for easing tension in the neck, soothing away sore knees or warming the bed.

I was first introduced to the concept of these packs when someone bought me one from a retail store. It was called a “Bed Buddy,” and it looked like a sock stuffed with something (I can’t remember what) with rope handles on the end. If you placed it in the microwave and heated it for a couple minutes, it was perfect for easing the tension in a sore neck (that’s how I always used it).

Over the years, I’ve seen many different takes on these. Some were commercially purchased and filled with a variety of substances (flax, gel), and some were bought at craft fairs, filled with more accessible items like dried corn or rice.

It is the ones found at craft fairs that inspired this column (well, that and the fact I had to make a couple quick Mother’s Day gifts).

As a crafter who has many interests, I also have a large stash (from yarn to beads to fabric) and I’m prone to buy fabric, especially if it’s fleece, off the remnants racks at Jo-Ann and other stores. I find fleece comes in handy for a variety of projects.

The beauty of these hot/cold packs is you don’t necessarily need measurements. You can make them whatever size or shape you like. For this column, I made two (a long one that will wrap around the neck and a shorter, wider one that can be used on the low back).

With fleece in hand, I needed only a couple more items to accomplish my goal. Here’s the list.

What you’ll need:

•Muslin

•Fleece

•Rice (white, brown, red, whatever, amount depends on size of your pack)

•Essential oil (for this project, I used honey almond and sweet orange, found in the soap/candle-making aisle of the craft store, but you can buy it at health food stores as well)

•Thread that coordinates with fleece

•A sewing machine

•Scissors or a rotary cuter

What to do:

1. Pour rice into a zippered plastic bag and sprinkle with essential oil. Set aside. (Note: For the longer one I made, I used about 5 cups of rice).

2. Cut the muslin to the size you want, whether that’s a 24-inch log, 4-inch wide log or a 7 1/2 -inch wide, 16-inch long rectangle or, other size you desire.

3. Stitch three of the four sides of the muslin, leaving an opening to fill with rice.

4. Fill muslin sack with rice but be sure not to stuff so it is bulging. Instead, as you fill, lay the piece down (be sure to keep the end that’s open closed tight) and flatten rice out. The pack should be flexible so it bends around the neck, etc.

5. Fold in edges of open end and double stitch to close.

6. Cut fleece so that it fits the muslin pack a bit loosely (because you’ll remove the pack to chill or to wash the fleece covering).

7. Stitch up all but one end of the fleece.

8. Fold edges in and stitch around opening of the fleece sleeve.

If you are giving this as a gift, you could include a gift tag with printed instructions for use. Here is what the tag that comes with mine says:

For warm comfort: Heat two minutes or more (so it can be handled) in mircowave oven with a cup of water in the oven for moisture.

For moist heat: Spritz with water before microwaving.

For cool comfort: Place rice pack in refrigerator for an hour or so, or in freezer for a half-hour.