Closer real life Ardi Rizal smoking toddler 40 cigarettes a day

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Just two, but he smokes 40 a day

Tuesday 01 June 2010

Little Ardi Rizal is only two years old but smokes 40 cigarettes a day. Heartbreakingly, the toddler is so addicted, he suffers violent withdrawal symptoms if he’s not allowed to smoke.

His mum Diana, 26, who thinks she’s responsible for her son’s addiction because she smoked while pregnant, says she’s trying to get Ardi to give up cigarettes – with little success.

“I try to distract him with games, but nothing works – he’s addicted,” she says from her home in South Sumatra, Indonesia.

“If he doesn’t get his cigarettes he gets really angry and starts screaming and battering his head against the wall. He tells me he feels dizzy and sick, so what can I do? I’m sure it’s my fault.”

Shockingly, his dad Mohammed, 30, first gave him tobacco when he was just 18 months old but insists he’s done nothing wrong.

“He looks pretty healthy to me,” says the fishmonger. “I gave him a cigarette because he said he was feeling dizzy, and I thought it would make him feel better.”

Ardi smokes 40 cigarettes a day

Despite admitting he lights his son’s cigarettes “in case he hurts himself,” Mohammed dismisses the long-term health dangers, saying he “isn’t worried.” But Diana disagrees with her husband and is desperately trying to wean Ardi off nicotine.

She has managed to stop him smoking after 8pm and sends him to bed with a bowl of sweetened condensed milk to help stave off his cravings and sleep until morning.

Even in Indonesia, where an official report revealed that at least 25 per cent of children aged 3 and upwards have tried cigarettes, Ardi’s story made headline news. The local government sent a doctor to educate the family on how smoking is damaging their son’s health and they have offered to buy them a car if he can give up.

But even a health check at a hospital in Jakarta was punctuated by cigarette breaks for Ardi, who only smokes one particular brand.

“He smokes like an adult,” says his father, who admits Ardi’s habit costs them £3.78 a week and he only earns £37 a month. “He’s learnt to blow smoke rings and blows smoke through his nose.”

Disturbingly, Ardi is part of a rising number of young smokers in Indonesia. The percentage of five to nine-year-olds lighting up has increased from 0.4 per cent in 2001 to 2.8 per cent.

Ardi smokes 40 cigarettes a day
Experts blame the epidemic on aggressive advertising by the tobacco industry. One third of Indonesia’s population smokes and cigarette companies sponsor everything from scholarships to sporting events, with little attention given to the health dangers.

“If cigarette advertising isn’t banned, there will be more kids whose lives are threatened by smoking,” says Seto Mulyadi, chairman of Indonesia’s child protection commission.

UK-based GP Dr Ayan Panja, who specialises in the effects of smoking, agrees, adding: “Ardi may have severe lung disease, heart disease or even lung cancer by the time he is 30 if he continues. His habit may have already affected his lung growth and he’ll be more susceptible to bronchitis and respiratory infections.

“But if he stops now his lungs will go back to normal within a few years.”

However, as well as the impact cigarettes are having on his heart and lungs, they’re also making Ardi grossly overweight because he struggles to exercise. At 4st, he’s double the average weight for his age, and his mum worries his habit is stopping him from running around and losing weight.

“He can’t run with the other boys,” she says. “He is very aggressive when he needs nicotine and the only thing that makes him quiet is a cigarette.”

By Isabel Jensen & Claire McAteer