Within a few short years, girls in Europe have become heavier smokers than boys, for reasons experts still fail to understand, according to a British study, presented  last week to an international conference on smoking.    Anti-smoking activists at the second "Tobacco or Health" conference in the Canary Islands pointed out that while grown-ups were giving up smoking in ever-growing numbers, more and more young people were taking up the habit, particularly girls.    One 15--year--old in four is a regular smoker, according to a study made in 27 countries in Europe and the United States, Canada and Israel----Edinburgh University together with the World Health Organization.    In Western Europe, girls were more likely than boys to smoke. In prefix = st1 /Germanyor In England, one third of the girls were smokers compared to one in four boys. In Eastern Europe, the girls "still fall behind" those in the Western Europe but were "catching up" quickly, said the study.   The study dealt with the behaviour of 15--year--old in seven European countries over four year periods between 1986 and 1998.    The percentages of young women smoking went from 17 percent to 36 percent in Austria, from 17 percent to 28 percent inNorway, from 21 percent to 28 percent inHungary.   In the seven countries Austria,Finland,Hungary,Norway,Sweden,SwitzerlandandWales--more girls smoked than boys in 1998, exceptHungary. The number of boy smokers is_that of girl smokers.
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