Global tobacco use becoming more common among girls.

AS COUNTRIES involved in the international tobacco treaty held their first meeting in early 2006, recent research found girls are closing in on boys when it comes to cigarette smoking, and smoking among children in urban India seems to be skyrocketing.

The Global Youth Tobacco Survey, based on responses from 750,000 students ages 13-15 from 131 countries and the West Bank and Gaza Strip, found nearly 9 percent of students were current smokers and 11 percent currently used tobacco products other than cigarettes. And the difference in smoking between boys and girls is smaller than the difference between men and women, according to the survey results, which were published online Feb. 17 in the Lancet.

"Tobacco use is a major worldwide contributor to deaths from chronic diseases, and findings from the (survey) suggest current dire warnings that the annual death toll will double to 10 million by 2020 may be a conservative estimate," said Charles Warren, PhD, a lead author of the ' study and research coordinator for the Global Youth Tobacco Survey, which is run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "The true toll from tobacco use could be even greater with high rates of non-cigarette tobacco use and high rates of smoking among young girls."

While previous studies have found men Were four times more likely than women to smoke, the youth survey found boys ages 13-15 were only two times to three times as likely to smoke as girls.

The survey found more than 30 percent of students had been exposed to tobacco smoke in their homes in the week before the survey, and the statistic was as high as 78 percent in Europe.

"Reduction of tobacco consumption will require a redoubling of efforts to prevent initiation and promote cessation among the large proportion of young people who currently use tobacco," Warren said. "High exposure to secondhand smoke suggests a need for countries to pass strong and effective smoke-free policies."

Another Lancet study published in February found almost 25 percent of sixth-grade students in Delhi and Cennai, India, had tried tobacco. Surprisingly, researchers found that sixth-grade students' tobacco use was more than double that of eighth-graders, Which "might indicate a new wave of increased tobacco use in urban India that warrants confirmation and early intervention."

Public health advocates are increasingly concerned that the epidemic of tobacco use is shifting from developed to developing countries, including India.

In the United States, a February study found that girls have surpassed boys in cigarette use. According to the study released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy, 730,000 U.S. teen girls started smoking cigarettes in 2004, compared to 565,000 teen boys who picked up the habit.

On a global scale, the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control meeting held in Geneva in February focused on sharing information about effective strategies, including indoor smoking bans and graphic warnings printed on cigarette packages.

Norway and Spain, for example, recently banned smoking in indoor public' places, and India has comprehensive tobacco advertising bans. Australia, Brazil, Canada, Singapore and Thailand now print graphic warnings on cigarette packs.

"This group has already changed history," said WHO Director-general Jong Wook Lee, MD, MPH. "The convention is something we are all committed to. Its provisions are bold. They are based on knowledge of what is effective. We will make it work."

The meeting brought together the first Conference of the Parties, which is the governing body of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Advocates believe measures included in the treaty could save 200 million lives by the year 2050.