Indonesian Toddler Chain-Smokes 40 Cigs a Day…

Smoking is a fatal habit responsible for over 5-million global deaths per year. Added to that, 50% of those who begin smoking during childhood will continue smoking until the end of their likely fleeting lives.

Most grownups therefore try diligently to protect their children from the insidious poison known as tobacco. Sadly, the parents of the boy pictured below either possess no common sense whatsoever—or they just don’t care.

Pictured above is little Ardi Rizal, a two-year-old Indonesian lad with an indomitable fondness for cigarettes. His cravings are so intense that he’ll bust into a full-fledged tantrum if not provided with at least 40 cigarettes of the same brand per day. Keep in mind that a typical pack hosts only 21 cigarettes, and his habit costs £3.78 a day, which is equivalent to almost 6% of Indonesia’s monthly minimum wage.

Ardi first took a drag when his father Mohammed offered him cigarette one-and-a-half years ago. He has since transformed into an overweight, 56-pound toddler so out of shape that he can barely walk. The Metro reports that Ardi “trundles round on a toy truck blowing smoke as he is too unfit to run with the other children.”

According to the Mail Online World News, Ardi’s Mother Diana attempted to make him quit, but to no avail. She tearfully said, “He’s totally addicted. If he doesn’t get cigarettes, he gets angry and screams and batters his head against the wall.” Isn’t it a parent’s job to deal with such situations? Regardless, she added, “He tells me he feels dizzy and sick.” I wonder why…

Local officials have tried to bribe the family into forcing Ardi to quit by offering them a car, but his father insists that there’s nothing wrong: “He looks pretty healthy to me. I don’t see the problem.”

Shocking, isn’t it? Even more disturbing is that according to Fox News, 25% of three to fifteen-year-old Indonesian children have tried smoking at least once. Plus statistical data presented by Mail Online reveals that almost 1% of Indonesian children are active smokers.

Unfortunately, there are no laws in Indonesia designed to protect children from second-hand smoke, let alone cigarettes. A bill is currently in the works, but officials from the tobacco industry are steadfastly stalling its progress.

If passed, the bill would “ban cigarette advertising and sponsorship, prohibit smoking in public, and add graphic images to packaging.”

It might already be too late for Ardi, but there are millions of other children in Indonesia that the bill could potentially save.