Disturbing Viral Video: Two-Year Old Smokes 40 Cigarettes A Day

When you first see the video of Ardi Rizal, a two-year old Indonesian boy video-taped chain smoking, some may find it almost comical. He looks like a miniature old man or the baby from Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. However, a few seconds later, the reality of it begins to sink in; this is really a video of a two-year old toddler smoking cigarrettes. The viral video, which is burning up the internet this morning after initially appearing in March, is truly disturbing. The Daily Mail article with the story behind it is even worse.

The young boy lives in the Indonesian fishing village of Musi Banyuasin. He was discovered recently by a reporter who quizzed his parents on the boy’s smoking habits. They told him that he smoked his first cigarette when he was only 18 months. It was given to him by his father.

From the Daily Mail:

“‘I’m not worried about his health, he looks healthy,’ shrugged the boy’s father Mohammad Rizal.
‘He cries and throws tantrums when we don’t let him smoke. He’s addicted.’
Ardi’s youth is the extreme of a disturbing trend. Data from the Central Statistics Agency showed 25 per cent of Indonesian children aged three to 15 have tried cigarettes, with 3.2 per cent of those active smokers.
The percentage of five to nine year olds lighting up increased from 0.4 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent in 2004, the agency reported.”

Smoking is an enormous problem in Indonesia. A third of the country uses tobacco and, only last year, a law was passed officially recognizing that smoking is addictive. Groups have been attempting to get the government to sign more laws protecting children. Hopefully, as this video gets seen around the world, action will be taken.