Ardi rizal is just a two-year-old Sumatran boy, but is not less than a chain smoker.
Rizal who lives in a fishing village Musi Banyuasin, Indonesia, smokes at least 40 cigarettes in a day. He got addicted to smoking after his father gave him a fag when he was just 18 months, reports thesun.co.uk.
He weighs more than 25 kilograms and finds it almost impossible to run with other kids.
“He’s totally addicted. If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick,” said her mother Daina.
Rizal smokes a particular brand and his habit costs his parents more than $5 a day.
The officials of the village have offered to buy the family a car if he quits.
However Rizal’s father Mohammed, a fishmonger finds no problem with his habit and believes his son is quite healthy.
“He looks pretty healthy to me. I don’t see the problem,” said Mohammed.
Smoking kid stuns the world
Two-year-old Sumatran boy Ardi Rizal's two-pack-a-day cigarette habit has sparked outrage, prompting an American anti-smoking group to call upon the Indonesian government to take urgent action.
"It's clear the parents of this baby don't understand the risk smoking poses to their child," the New York Daily News quoted Matthew Myers of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids in Washington, D.C., as saying.
He added: "This reflects a pervasive problem in many low-income countries where tobacco companies market their products to an uneducated public," Myers said.
Ardi, who lives in the fishing village of Musi Banyuasin, in Indonesia's South Sumatra, was given his first cigarette by his dad at just 18 month old.
His mum, Diana, understands her son has a problem.
She said: "He's totally addicted.
"If he doesn't get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick."
But Ardi's father, Mohammad Rizal, is unfazed by his son's smoking habit.
"I'm not worried about his health, he looks healthy. He cries and throws tantrums when we don't let him smoke. He's addicted," the Telegraph quoted him, as saying.
Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's child protection commission, says parents who smoke and aggressive advertising are responsible for the rise in the number of child smokers.
He said: "A law to protect children and passive smokers should be introduced immediately in this country." (ANI)
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