The Boy Who Began Smoking When He Was 18 Months Old

Introduced to smoking by his dad, 2.5-year-old tong liangliang now goes through a pack a day

Introduced to smoking by his dad, 2.5-year-old tong liangliang now goes through a pack a day

This is Tong Liangliang, an ordinary 2.5 years old child who lives in China. Liang Liang smokes a pack of cigarettes daily.

As it turned out, his parents gave him the first cigarette at age 1.5 to relieve pain.

Tragic: Tong Liangliang throws tantrums if anyone refuses him a cigarette

Tong was born with hernia and it was dangerous to operate it his its infancy.

The boy suffered from severe pain and to distract him from the anguish, the father gave him a smoke.

Over time, Tong got addicted to smoking. Now the parents can't get him to stop smoking.
u00a0
Tong goes through the same withdrawal symptoms as an adult. Every time he sees someone smoking, he asks for a cigarette and becomes agitated and angry if refused.

There have been no reports of any doctor caring for Liang Liang.

"The father wasn't aware how serious the toddler's habit had become until the child began to increase the number of cigarettes he smoked per day," a Chinese news agency was quoted as saying.

Record unlikely

However, The Guinness World Records may not accept the feat.

It has refused such requests before on the grounds that it "promoted a harmful habit".

In 2005, a 37-year-old Chinese man submitted an application to the Guinness Book of records, claiming he had started smoking at the age of three and was the world's youngest smoker. His application was denied on the grounds that it promoted a harmful habit.