Smoking toddler in Indonesia cuts back to 15-a-day

JAKARTA: A chain-smoking Indonesian toddler has cut back to 15 cigarettes a day thanks to “therapy focused on playing”, a child welfare official said .

Two-year-old Ardi Rizal shocked the world when a video of him smoking a cigarette appeared on the Internet last month and drew attention to Indonesia’s failure to regulate the tobacco industry. Six months after his father gave him his first cigarette, the overweight boy from Sumatra island was smoking 40 a day and threw violent tantrums if his addiction was not satisfied.

Child welfare officials called in to try to wean the toddler off cigarettes said that when they played with him he did not smoke as much. “The boy has been able to reduce his cigarette intake significantly, very quickly, after the treatment,” National Commission for Child Protection chairman Seto Mulyadi said.

“The therapy focused on playing — we occupied him with toys so that he forgets cigarettes,” he said. Ardi developed his nicotine addiction while spending his days at a traditional market where both of his parents worked, Mulyadi said. Simple toys and someone to play with were enough to take his mind off cigarettes, at least for a while. The therapists also encouraged Ardi to associate cigarettes with bad things. “The boy likes singing songs so we tell him that if he continues smoking, he won’t be able to be a singer one day, and it works,” Mulyadi said.

Ardi’s case has highlighted the tobacco industry’s aggressive marketing to women and children in developing countries like Indonesia, where regulations are weak and many people do not know that smoking is dangerous.

Cigarette consumption in the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 240 million people soared 47 percent in the 1990s, according to the World Health Organization. Indonesia’s biggest cigarette manufacturer, PT HM Sampoerna, is an affiliate of Philip Morris International.

Third-hand smoke? WTF.

We are exposed daily to a form of air pollution that causes twice as many deaths as all other types of air pollution put together. This is known as Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS), which is actually the smoke from other people's cigarettes.

What is ETS?

Also referred to as second-hand smoke, about 85% to 90% of the smoke from every cigarette ends up in the air as ETS. A lighted cigarette produces two types of smoke that a non-smoker breathes in:

• Mainstream Smoke which is inhaled by the smoker through the filter tip of the cigarette, and then exhaled.
• Sidestream Smoke from the burning tip of the cigarette which goes straight into the air that we breathe.

ETS consists of around 85% sidestream smoke and 15% mainstream smoke. Sidestream smoke has a higher temperature than mainstream smoke and does not pass through the cigarette's filter tip. The concentration of chemicals in sidestream smoke is thus higher than in mainstream smoke.

This does not mean that smoking is less dangerous. The smoker inhales far more smoke than the people around him because unlike ETS, mainstream smoke does not get mixed with the surrounding air before reaching his lungs.

Why is ETS dangerous?

Cigarette smoke contains over 4,000 different chemicals, of which at least 400 are poisonous to man. The World Health Organization reports that at least sixty cancer-causing chemicals have been identified in secondhand smoke. Research on ETS has shown that living with, working with or just being around a smoker can harm your health. When you breathe in ETS, your health is affected adversely.

A person exposed to ETS is at risk of developing health conditions similar to those faced by the smoker, which include:

• eye, nose and throat irritations
• respiratory tract infections, with worsening of pre-existing respiratory problems such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema
• heart disease and cancers.

Recent studies have estimated that non-smokers exposed to ETS at home or in their workplace have their risk of lung cancer raised about a quarter, while heavy exposure at work doubles the risk of lung cancer.

How are children affected by ETS?

There is evidence to suggest that babies and children are particularly susceptible to the health effects of ETS. When parents or other caregivers like grandparents smoke, their children suffer as well.

Some examples of the harmful effects on children include:

• more coughs and cold.
• higher chance of irritation of the eyes and nose
• reduced lung growth and function
• increased susceptibility to coughs, wheezing and asthma. Children who have never had asthma before are more likely to develop it if one of their parents smokes. Continued exposure to ETS can cause asthma attacks to be more severe and occur more often.
• higher risk of suffering ear and chest infections. Younger children who are especially sensitive to cigarette smoke are more likely to develop lung diseases such as pneumonia and bronchitis. Children are more likely to miss school and are less likely to do well in studies as a result of falling sick more often.
• or infants - increased risk of sudden death.

Risks during pregnancy

According to the Surgeon General Report, women who smoke while they are pregnant or are exposed to ETS are more likely to suffer a miscarriage or stillbirth. Their babies may be born prematurely or have a lower than normal birth weight.

More likely to pick up smoking

Children whose parents smoke are also likely to pick up smoking, as seen in the Student Health Survey 20064 where 6 in 10 youth smokers have at least one parent who is also a smoker.

Third-hand smoke - additional danger after secondhand smoke

An additional danger remains even after a cigarette has been stubbed out. Third-hand smoke refers to cigarette residual particles that remain in the environment after a cigarette is extinguished. These particles linger on a smoker's hair, clothing, household fabrics such as carpets, curtains, rugs and surfaces like floors and windows. Young children and infants are especially susceptible to these toxins as they crawl on, play on, touch and inhale particles from these contaminated surfaces. This shows that the adverse impact of lighting a cigarette goes a long way.

Smoking has many harmful effects on health and ETS is one of them. Not lighting up a cigarette marks the beginning of a healthier lifestyle for you and your loved ones. Breathe in the fresh air by going smoke free today!

Barack Obama

New excuse: "But mommy, why can't I smoke if President Almighty Obama does? Can I just have one puff!"

An image gone up in smoke

by Paul Gilfeather 05:55 AM Mar 08, 2010

THE fact that United States President Barack Obama smokes genuinely bothers me.

This might surprise you when I tell you that I am myself a smoker.

Let me explain.

I know for many political and cultural giants of the past 100 years, smoking was very much part of the image.

Film actors James Dean and Marlon Brando, with cigarette draped casually from their lips, were the epitome of celluloid cool. And British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and revolutionary Che Guevara might have lacked charisma were it not for the omnipresent cigar.

But it is now 2010 and even children know that smoking makes people dead, not cool.

No one is more aware of the negative connotations surrounding smoking than the leader of the Free World.

He is, after all, President of a nation where one in every five people die from smoking-related illnesses and should know better.

The problem is that he is well and truly hooked, but - as a role model for millions - he would surely give up if he could.

The guilt and shame he feels over the dreaded weed is all too apparent. Just examine the lengths he will go to hide it from the public.

He has repeatedly attempted to pull-the-wool, mislead and deflect the public's gaze away from the subject since details of his 30-year habit emerged during the US presidential election.

In a recent interview he tried to create the impression that he had kicked cigarettes for good.

It was only when he was grilled more intensely did he admit that he was some way from nailing the habit.

He was caught red-handed again last week having a puff behind the bike sheds.

Okay, I accept, the fibs may not carry the same kind of implications were he playing fast and loose with the truth over the war in Afghanistan, his country's two-tier health-care system or policy on greenhouse gases.

But he's displaying some pretty dodgy behaviour over his problem, nonetheless.

Unfortunately, in trying to cover up his addiction, President Obama has displayed some of the character traits which make him appear, to me at least, a little untrustworthy.

For many it was a shock to learn that President Obama had not kicked the habit as he swore to do on taking the oath of office in 2009.

His wife, Michelle, revealed in an interview that she made his move towards a healthier lifestyle a pre-condition of her supporting his run for the White House.

In demonstrating how seriously he views his problem, President Obama, whose White House physician has expressed concern over the nicotine addiction during an annual medical checkup, has elevated the problem to that facing an alcoholic or drug addict.

He describes his addiction as a "struggle" similar to the one that challenges "members of Alcoholics Anonymous".

I actually knew a smoker who freed himself from a 25-year cigarette habit after joining an AA group and successfully employing a 12-step programme.

It made perfect sense since "the steps" have been used by more than 1 million alcoholics and drug addicts to beat their addictions, and can pretty much be applied to any condition.

I also had a friend who, in order to give up the cancer sticks, stopped boozing altogether, because he would only light up after sinking a couple of pints. As long as he stayed out of the pub he could trust himself not to smoke.

As a smoker, I sympathise with President Obama's plight.

I just wish President Obama would show some mettle and grow up about dealing with his problem.

Ditch the nicotine gum and patches and take some real affirmative action like those people I mentioned earlier - or carry on with your habit unabashed.

I find the duplicity over it a little troubling, and the pouring of emotion when he is busted a little less than manly.

Dilly-the-dally, My cigarelly

So I quit successfully for another two months in Singapore and started smoking again in Sri Lanka while I was staying there en route to Pakistan. And it has been three months or so since I've been an avid smoker, postponing quitting again.

Excuses? I was weak. Cigarettes are so cheap in Pakistan. I will quit soon. Etcetera.

Right now I say I will stop once I begin my post-graduation job. After all, it's easier to burn my mother's money than my own. Or wait, is it easier to burn my own money? I can't decide.

Bleagh.

My ultimate deadline to quit remains the same though: the day I get married.

You don't always die from tobacco

"Over 8.5 million Americans live with tobacco-related illnesses."