The American Cancer Society (ACS) of Ohio has filed a lawsuit challenging the state's workplace smoking ban. The ban exempts some military veterans' halls and other private clubs -- and the ASC says this is not OK.

The exemption waters down the law and exposes people to secondhand smoke, say ACS spokeswoman Wendy Simpkins.

The smoking ban was approved by 58 percent of voters in November, took effect in December, and will result in fining beginning the first week in May. The law prohibits smoking in most public places, such as restaurants, bars, and office and excludes tobacco shops, designated hotel rooms, and enclosed areas of nursing homes. Halls and clubs can be excluded from the law only if there are no employees.

Jay Carey, spokesman for the state Health Department, says public health officials have the authority to set rules for enforcement. They ultimately decided that VFW halls and other private clubs were exempt if they had only members as employees. For the exemption to apply, such clubs also must be nonprofit and in a freestanding building. No nonmembers or children under age 18 can be present.

The ACS argues that the state rules are confusing and make the law unworkable.

Danny became aware of my port just before it was removed. He was only 18 months old when I was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my journey went pretty much unnoticed by this small boy who had no idea ports were not standard on every person he met. Now he is three years old and even though he still has no real idea why a port popped up from underneath my skin for two years, he did come to realize it was something akin to a boo-boo that one day goes away.

My port went away on September 15. And ever since that day, Danny has been very concerned about the incision that marks the spot once home to a foreign device. For one week after my port removal, my incision was covered. Danny wondered why. I told him I was healing, that I had to keep my boo-boo protected, that I could not take a shower because it could not get wet. Danny was very attentive. He pulled at the neck of my shirt every time I held him to sneak a peak at the site of my surgery. He asked if it hurt, if doctors cut me with a knife, if new skin was growing underneath my bandage. "Yes", "yes", and "yes." I told him. And one day when I decided to take a shower, despite orders to keep the area completely dry, Danny said, "The doctor said you cannot take a shower." I told him, "I know." And he said, "But actually you did take a shower." I told him he was right and hoped he would not pursue my disobedience any further. He did not -- he was just checking up on me, he was just concerned about me, he was just wondering if I may have compromised something. I told him I was fine.

I did not do any damage with my rebellious shower, my bandage is off, and Danny only peeks once in a while to monitor the area. He is mostly back to his normal life, free from all nursing duties. And I am mostly back to life, free from my port and happily showered in love by my littlest guy -- the guy who was once oblivious to all things cancer related, the guy who somehow became my caregiver.

It is a well-known research-based fact that women who breastfeed have a decreased risk for developing breast and ovarian cancer. Which makes the story of Victoria's Secret nebulous breastfeeding policy and the unfortunate experience of a breastfeeding mother from Wisconsin relevant.

Rebecca Cook was shopping with a friend at a Victoria's Secret store last week when she asked if she could use a dressing room to breastfeed her baby. The store clerk told her no and led Cook and her infant to an employee restroom. Cook says when the clerk opened the bathroom door, the inside of the bathroom was disgusting. At that, Cook told the clerk "No, I don't eat in the bathroom and my daughter doesn't eat in the bathroom."  According to Cook, the stork clerk told her that using the dressing rooms for the purpose of breastfeeding would be unsanitary because people change in them.

Cook, with other nursing mothers, staged a breastfeeding sit-in protest outside the Victoria's Secret store. They believe that a company that has made their fortune from breasts is discriminating against nursing mothers. In addition to the protest in Wisconsin, similar protests were held in front of Victoria's Secret stores in several states by nursing mothers who have been denied the right to breastfeed in a public place.

Breastfeeding being unsanitary is absurd and I have to question the attitude and motive of the sales clerk who handled Cook's request for a dressing room, or even just a place to sit in the back of the dressing room hallway, by leading her to an unclean employee restroom as the only place to breastfeed her infant. Victoria's Secret needs to make it abundantly clear they support nursing mothers who shop in their stores. If breastfeeding is a health benefit for the mother in cancer prevention, and she chooses to breastfeed her baby for the many benefits to her baby's health and her own, is she supposed to stay home for a solid year or more until she is done breastfeeding? What do you think?