The No Menthol Buffalo coalition launches its campaign Tuesday

Buffalo, New York (WBEN) – Local health experts, advocates and other community leaders continue to push to end the sale of menthol cigarettes in the City of Buffalo and other Western New York communities .

A number of local community leaders, health experts, civil rights leaders and advocates gathered Tuesday at Health Sciences Charter School in Buffalo to announce the launch of the “No Menthol Buffalo” campaign, which aims to combat the tobacco industry’s intentional marketing and marketing. by targeting a product when used as intended it will kill people, especially the black community.

“The tobacco industry has deliberately and intentionally targeted the black community, particularly black youth, youth of color,” said Stan Martin of Stan Martin Consulting LLC. “We have worked very closely with Mr. (Isaiah) Gary and other advocates here today, including the faith community, to eliminate the scourge of tobacco from our community and, more importantly, to save lives “

Community leaders and activists are also calling on leaders at all levels to ban menthol cigarettes in order to save the lives of thousands of community members each year.

“We don’t want our young people to become the next generation of replacement smokers,” Martin said. “We call on the Buffalo Common Council and all of our elected officials at the county, state, White House and right here to do what is morally right. Protect our children, protect our community, do what they want. took an oath to do what we cannot do alone.

Additionally, the proposed policy does not penalize the possession of menthol tobacco. It is up to the tobacco industry to stop making menthol cigarettes and other flavored tobacco products. This also places responsibility on retailers, in terms of banning or selling as well.

81% of Black Americans smoke menthol cigarettes, which is a significant increase from the 10% of Black Americans who smoked menthol cigarettes in the 1950s, before the tobacco industry began targeting the African American community . Additionally, Black Americans are 6% more likely to be diagnosed with tobacco-related cancer and 17% more likely to die from tobacco-related cancer. Black men are also 15% more likely to develop lung cancer and 18% more likely to die than their white counterparts.

Smoking also directly contributes to the three leading causes of death among African Americans – heart disease, cancer and stroke – and results in the deaths of more than 45,000 African Americans each year.

“For too long, the African American community has suffered from an unjust system that has caused serious harm to our health. The tobacco industry has been a major contributor to a system that targets our community to trick us into using a product that has no positive health impacts,” said Pastor George Nicholas of Lincoln Memorial United Methodist Church and CEO of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity. high levels of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, asthma and heart disease. Consumption of menthol cigarettes and other products only aggravates the situation.

“In a responsible and free society, it would use its power to help keep the public safe. A responsible and free society listens to medical experts on the danger of menthol and ensures that the public interest comes first. In a free society, policymakers will listen to medical experts, social scientists, and other relevant community leaders when developing policy. They will not listen to the tobacco industry, which has a vested interest in targeting the community. black and brown as well as the LGBTQ+ community and they are targeting it, to be clear, with a deadly product.

Maansi Bansal-Travers is a research scientist at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She has studied the effects of menthol cigarettes, why people smoke these products, and what happens when they are banned. She says a ban on menthol cigarettes would prevent thousands of deaths of New Yorkers.

“Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death, avoidable illness and death. Smoking claims the lives of more than 28,000 New Yorkers each year,” Bansal-Travers said Tuesday. “Smoking is associated with heart disease, diabetes, emphysema and, at least, 12 types of cancer . When combined, tobacco-related cancers account for 40% of all cancer diagnoses, and smoking causes 3 in 10 cancer deaths.”

Bansal-Travers adds that policies to eliminate the sale of menthol cigarettes work by preventing young people from starting and helping adults quit smoking.

“Many other cities, states and countries have already eliminated the sale of menthol cigarettes, and we have studied what is happening in these places. Our Roswell Park studies show that countries that have passed bans on menthol cigarettes are seeing 30% higher dropout rates when implemented,” Bansal-Travers detailed. “In the City of Buffalo, we estimate that smoking cessation rates will increase by eight percentage points and prevent 734 premature deaths over time, including 483 premature deaths among Black residents.”

As Director of Community and Health Equity at Health Sciences Charter School, Isaiah Gary understands how important it is to educate students, staff and the broader community about menthol cigarettes and why they should be prohibited. He says the cigarettes had a personal effect on him and some members of his family.

“I think of my Aunt Ruby. When I think of this job, I think of how we used to go to the store to buy her cigarettes and starch, and how, over time, she eventually died of lung cancer,” he said. “It’s not as immediate, so sometimes we don’t think of it that way. A death from lung cancer or an illness related to smoking and menthol is not as immediate as a car accident. car or a shooting. So we don’t necessarily look at it the same way. In reality, though, it’s a slow, painful death that you watch as someone you love experiences. I think of my aunt and watch her take her last breath, because she couldn’t even swallow a piece of ice after smoking for years and years.

Smoking also took a toll on Rev. Kinzer Pointer, pastor of Liberty Missionary Baptist Church and leader of the No Menthol Buffalo faith-based initiative. Her sister Tina started smoking in middle school, and it ultimately took her life far too young.

“I kept smelling this stench on her and, of course, she vigorously denied that she was smoking, but I kept smelling this stench on her. Fast forward, Tina goes to college, finishes high school, gives birth to my nephew, then at 26 she had stage 4 metastatic lung cancer before she was diagnosed And between the time of diagnosis and when I have to get up to bury my sister, my. young sister, it’s been nine days. We can’t keep doing this. We can’t,” said Reverend Pointer.

Pointer is asking residents and other local leaders to recognize that No Menthol Buffalo is an opportunity to do something to change the community as a whole for the better.

“I say to all elected officials that this is the right thing to do. Let’s do it. And then Buffalo can set an example for the rest of New York State, for the surrounding communities,” he said . “And let’s make sure that what our young people want to do is not prohibited by cigarettes. Tina was 26. I still miss her very much.”