Four-year-old boy a heavy smoker

The Daily Telegraph October 01, 2009 11:09AM 

Deadly habit ... Dong Dong, 4, smokes a cigarette Source: The Daily Telegraph

SHOCKING pictures have emerged of a boy who is a heavy smoker - at just four years of age.

And the Jianghuai Morning Post reports that little Dong Dong, from Banqiao village in China's Anhui province, has been smoking since he was only two.

Dong lives with his grandparents, who run a grocery shop. They say he constantly steals cigarettes to feed his deadly habit.

He also drinks alcohol.

"When he needs cigarettes, he just takes them from the house or steals a pack from the store. We just can't seem to stop him," his grandmother told the paper.

Local doctor Zhang Gong, from Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital, was shocked to see a four-year-old smoke.

"From the way the boy smokes and his posture, he looks to have had a long history of smoking even though he is so young," he added.