Images of a two-year-old toddler smoking cigarettes have shocked people in Indonesia. The little boy, Ardi Rizal from Sumatra, is addicted to nicotine and smokes 40 cigarettes a day. Videos of Ardi casually puffing away on a cigarette emerged this week on YouTube. The footage, now removed, shows him smoking like a true pro. His father, Mohammed Rizal, thinks there’s no problem with his son’s nasty habit. He told reporters that his child looked healthy and that was the only thing that was important. He went on to explain how Ardi took up smoking when he was 18 months old. That was when he gave his son his first cigarette. Now he’s totally hooked; he throws tantrums if his father does not let him smoke.
Ardi’s story is part of a worrying trend in Indonesia. Government statistics reveal 25 per cent of Indonesian kids aged between 3 and 15 have smoked and that over 3 per cent are regular smokers. Indonesia is the world’s third largest smoking nation. Cigarettes are everywhere and smoking is still seen as a socially acceptable practice. Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih said preventing youngsters from smoking would be very difficult because people believe smoking is a good thing. She said tobacco companies are well liked because they sponsor many things from education to sporting and public events. She added: “This is the challenge we face in protecting youth from the dangers of smoking.”
Images of a two-year-old toddler smoking cigarettes have shocked people in Indonesia. The little boy, Ardi Rizal from Sumatra, is addicted to nicotine and smokes 40 cigarettes a day. Videos of Ardi casually puffing away on a cigarette emerged this week on YouTube. The footage, now removed, shows him smoking like a true pro. His father, Mohammed Rizal, thinks there’s no problem with his son’s nasty habit. He told reporters that his child looked healthy and that was the only thing that was important. He went on to explain how Ardi took up smoking when he was 18 months old. That was when he gave his son his first cigarette. Now he’s totally hooked; he throws tantrums if his father does not let him smoke.
Ardi’s story is part of a worrying trend in Indonesia. Government statistics reveal 25 per cent of Indonesian kids aged between 3 and 15 have smoked and that over 3 per cent are regular smokers. Indonesia is the world’s third largest smoking nation. Cigarettes are everywhere and smoking is still seen as a socially acceptable practice. Health Minister Endang Sedyaningsih said preventing youngsters from smoking would be very difficult because people believe smoking is a good thing. She said tobacco companies are well liked because they sponsor many things from education to sporting and public events. She added: “This is the challenge we face in protecting youth from the dangers of smoking.”
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