A study examined how three major women's magazines handled cigarette advertisements and editorial copy about smoking-related health problems. Examined were issues of "Ms.,""Good Housekeeping," and "Seventeen" magazines from 1972, one year after the ban on television advertisements and the year "Ms." began publication, through 1979, when cigarette advertising in women's magazines peaked, and coverage of the smoking issue peaked in general. Content analyses, related literature, and telephone interviews with editors revealed that "Good Housekeeping" ran an average of 2.1 informative stories on the health risks of smoking, and has a long-standing policy of not accepting cigarette advertising. "Seventeen" ran an average of one smoking-related article every 2 years, and also accepts no cigarette ads. "Ms." magazine ran an average of 5.7 health-related articles per year, but no feature articles related to smoking, although it maintains that its editorial content is independent of its advertising. All but three issues contained cigarette ads, but the editors have turned down lucrative advertising from Virginia Slims cigarettes because its slogan "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" is considered demeaning to women. Every cigarette ad carries the Surgeon General's warning, however, and "Ms." still runs fewer cigarette ads than other women's magazines, such as "Cosmopolitan" or "Working Mother." Overall, it appears that editorial autonomy for women's magazines disappears when magazines are dependent on advertising revenues. (A chart of magazine revenues and a graph illustrating the total number of articles on smoking are appended. Forty-four notes are included.) (HTH)