most Indonesian mothers did not understand the risks of cigarettes

The internet phenomenon of the two year old Indonesian baby Aldi who is a chain cigarette smoker has shocked people all over the world. The grossly overweight boy who weighs almost twice what he should be weighing is a tragic example of misinformation and poor education which is likely to leave the child with chronic health problems throughout its short life.

Mr. Seto Mulyadi who is the Chairman of Indonesia's National Commission for Child Protection explained that most Indonesian mothers did not understand the risks of cigarettes and many smoked while pregnant including Aldi's mother Diana. He also explained that despite efforts to introduce anti-smoking laws in Indonesia, tobacco companies still had the upper hand and were advertising relentlessly targeting all groups of society. Indonesia is the only nation in the Asia-Pacific area not to have signed up to the World Health Organization guidelines for effective tobacco control.

Diana says that she is attempting to get him to stop smoking because not only is the smoking obviously extremely dangerous itself but the costs of Aldi smoking an average of 40 cigarettes every day is too much for the family to bear. Despite her efforts to stop him smoking this poor two year old can't understand why he is being denied cigarettes and cries his eyes out as he suffers from the withdrawal symptoms of nicotine.

Aldi has violent tantrums when he is not given cigarettes one of which ended up with him knocking his head on the wall. Diana and Aldi's father both claim to have quit smoking in an attempt to save money and to support their son. 

People who start smoking when they are very young find it much more difficult to quit as they get older. You may think that having a few cigarettes when you are in your teens is harmless however it is these cigarette which are likely to get you addicted and end up making you smoke all your life and send you to an early grave.