Mom of toddler smoker in Indonesia seeks help for him (with video)

[RiverStone]

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Two-year-old Aldi yanked on his mother's hair and squirmed in her arms.
Tears formed a small pool in the folds of his double chin.

"He's crying because he wants a cigarette," said Diana, his mother, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name.
We caught up with Aldi, who is nearly twice the weight of other babies his age (20 kilograms or 44 pounds), and his mother at Jakarta's airport.

Video of him plopped on a brightly-colored toy truck inhaling deeply and happily blowing smoke rings had circulated on the Internet last week, turning him into a local celebrity.

As we spoke to his mother, a crowd gathered and a man taunted Aldi with a cigarette, blowing smoke in his direction.
"Smoking has been a part of our culture for so long it isn't perceived as being hazardous, as causing illness, as poisonous," said Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection. "A lot of adults who are around children will smoke. They will carry a baby in one hand and a cigarette in another. Even mothers don't understand that they are poisoning their children."

more: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/31/indonesia.smoking.baby/index.html?hpt=T3

Yes, the parents are the first line of defense and there is no excuse for a mother or father allowing a 2 year old to smoke!

Yet within the Indonesian culture there is limited, if not non-existent, anti smoking education. That mother probably grew up around smoke tolerant parents that encouraged it.

One might think that tobacco companies, particularly the big giants based in the USA, would be mindful that they are delivering poison to a country where children have easy access; but that would require ethics which transcend the need to make a profit!

No easy solution here - and I see the tobacco industry as no different then the drug cartels in Mexico, feeding the habit - even if children are the ones getting addicted. :smoke: :mad:

[Lyric]

1. Oh my god.

That video is just...holy fuck.

It's horrific enough that this TODDLER is allowed to handle something that's on FIRE, but smoking two packs a day?! Jesus.

:cry:

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. I almost commented on the other thread about this.

I had a feeling that the cost of the baby's habit would bite the parents in the ass eventually.

Turns out that is exactly why they are trying to get the boy to stop.

[jaksavage]

3. Collateral damage

the same as nestle selling formula to areas without clean water or language skills to read instructions on mixing formula.
Go capitalism go!

My father handed me a cigarette when I was... 5 or 6.. in order to light fireworks. Everyone laughed when I puffed it to keep it going. Happy 4th of July!
I never took up the smoking habit.

[1monster]

4. There is more wrong with that child than smoking. Nicotine acts as an

appetite suppressant and stimulates metabolism.

He needs a complete medical work up, blood works, physical exam, etc.

[MrMickeysMom]

5. I can't begin to describe how disgusting this is from several standpoints-

1. As a respiratory therapist, children's lung development exponentially continues to develop until about age 6. That's why when you have congenital problems, the kids have a better chance of doing alright if you can get them past that age.

2. The fact this there is THIS much active exposure to tissue irritation in the lung bed most likely will contribute to what we call "lung remodeling", basically changing the type of tissue that leads to an early death.

3. Marketing certainly works, doesn't it? This is the tobacco industry at their very worst.

[ecstatic]

6. Even if the health risks are ignored, what about the fire hazard? nt