Smoking Baby Photo Could Lead To Police Investigation: Is It Child Abuse?
The smoking baby picture that outraged Instagram users could soon result in an investigation. Since the Inquisitr first reported on the highly-disturbing photo above, photo-centric social network users have taken steps to see that the suspected mom is punished.
Reports indicate that 18-year-old Instagram user lapelirrojah_delbarriooh — real name not provided — posted the picture of her baby smoking a cigarette to get a laugh out of followers and draw more attention to her page.
To add a little “aww” factor, the young mother posted this message along with the photo.
“Already smoking at a year old, love you little one, you’re my f****** life.”
While the laughs didn’t come, the attention certainly did, though not likely in the way that she wanted.
“What the f*** is wrong with you?” wrote one commenter, while another — responding to a picture of the Valencia, Spain, resident with her tank top pulled up over her belly — said, “I sincerely hope this doesn’t mean you have another child on the way.”
Perhaps even harsher than this, one follower came out and called her a bad parent.
“You are a disgrace as a parent you the worst piece of s*** in the world how dare you to give a cigarette to you child I hope you burn in h*** [sic]”
Some commenters took it as a moment to lecture the girl on the dangers of giving cigarettes to a child, noting that a little one’s lungs are still developing at that age and teaching them to smoke is tantamount to child abuse.
Antonio Nieto, president of the Spanish Association of Pediatricians, confirmed this in comments to the Local.
“Tobacco is intrinsically even worse than heroin and to give it to a baby whose lungs are still developing…. Even children who are exposed to passive smoking are more likely to develop lung conditions such as asthma or chronic bronchitis…. I think the police would definitely consider it to be child abuse. It is just absolutely unbelievable.”
Apparently disturbed by the backlash, the girl has since taken down the photo from her Instagram account, but that has done little to quiet the firestorm.
While the Mirror U.K. report said it couldn’t be verified whether the girl was actually the child in the photo’s mother, there has since been a second photograph emerge of the 18-year-old with a child that looks almost identical to the one in the now-infamous smoking baby picture.
Spanish woman post photo of 1-year-old smoking a cigarette >> http://t.co/SVfwJrYgvc pic.twitter.com/zHWUwBAEYB
— Latina Magazine (@Latina) May 13, 2015
Do you think the mom responsible for the smoking baby picture should have her child taken away? Sound off in the comments section.
[Image via lapelirrojah_delbarriooh Instagram, linked above]
