Two years-old boy smoking

An Indonesian boy, only 2 years-old, smokes 40 cigarettes a day. The first cigarette was given by his father, when he was one year and 6 months of life, according to the English newspaper “Daily Mail”. That happens often at Indonesia, where 25% of children smoked at least once.

Ardi Rizal is his name, and he lives at Musi Banyuasin. He smokes only one mark of cigarette, making his parents spend 3,78 pounds a day. Local agents offered a new car to Rizal’s family if they make Ardi stop smoking but his parents refused. The reason is that they can’t control him, he is too much addicted and stubborn. His mother said that if they don’t give him cigarettes, he yells at them, get angry and beats his own head against the wall, and pretend to be dizzy and sick. “He treats cigarettes like another meal” said Diana, his mother. “I try to distract him with toys and games, but nothing works”

Despite all the problems, Mohhamed, his father, said he looks healthy and don’t see any problem in his son addiction. According to the Central Statistics Agency, 25% of children between 3 and 15 years have already smoked, and 3,2% of them are active smokers.

A video of a 4 years old boy smoking and blowing smoke rings, also from Indonesia, was added on YouTube in March, but it was quickly removed, due to protests from the users. One of the main reasons for the young smokers in Indonesia is that tobacco is very cheap there, it can be found anywhere and costs only a few cents.

To control the situation, a project was made, and it pretends to forbid cigarettes publicity and patronage, smoke in public and graphic images on the package. It’s going to be hard, because Indonesia is the third largest consumer of tobacco in the world.

Reference:

http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/equilibrioesaude/741063-garoto-de-2-anos-fuma-40-cigarros-por-dia-na-indonesia.shtml

http://veja.abril.com.br/noticia/internacional/menino-2-anos-fuma-40-cigarros-dia-563586.shtml