Mississippi lawmakers are being asked to pass a statewide smoking ban in public places.
Jeanette Gossett of Meridian believes her 1998 lung cancer diagnoses was directly related to second hand smoking.
"I never smoked a single cigarette, but I had a great deal of exposure to second-hand smoke," says Gossett. "Worked 23 years in an environment that allowed smoking, and most of that time my desk was next to a chain smoker."
After having the cancerous part of her lung removed, Gossett became an anti-smoking advocate; helping to pass a ban on smoking in her hometown. So far 90 other Mississippi communities have followed suit. However, anti-smoking advocates say those bans on smoking in public places do not go far enough. Kimberly Hughes is with The American Cancer Society's Cancer Action Network.
"Although we've got those 91 ordinances that just covers about 28 percent of our population," Hughes says. "In order to protect the people of this rural state we live in we will need a statewide law to do so."
