Advocates urge Buffalo City committee to ban menthol tobacco, citing racial health disparities

Public-health advocates and community leaders urged the Buffalo City Committee on Community Development on Feb. 10, 2026, to move forward with a ban on menthol-flavored tobacco products, saying the products concentrate harms in Black, Latino, LGBTQ and unhoused communities.

"Menthol cigarettes are the number 1 killer of African Americans in the United States," Dr. Philip Gardner, co‑chair of the African American Tobacco Control Leadership Council, told the committee during public comment. Gardner cited examples of more than 130 U.S. cities and counties and two states — Massachusetts and California — that have restricted menthol or flavored tobacco products and referenced the Food and Drug Administration's 2009 action removing several flavored tobacco products (noting menthol remained on the market then).

Pastor George Nicholas of the Buffalo Center for Health Equity and Stan Martin of the No Menthol Buffalo campaign presented packet materials for the committee, saying maps and retailer counts in the packet show a concentration of tobacco retailers and overlapping health burdens — higher rates of hypertension, stroke, asthma and other conditions — in the same neighborhoods. "We need to liberate our community," Stan Martin said, framing the proposed ban as an equity measure.

Reverend Mark Blue, pastor of the Second Baptist Church and president of the local NAACP, told the committee the council has historically been a leader on change and urged members to "have the courage to do this," criticizing delays in receiving a legal opinion from corporation counsel.

Committee members responded by asking corporation counsel and the law department for a written opinion. A council member noted the committee had requested counsel's guidance and had been told it would be provided in 30 days; speakers said 7–8 months have passed without that written response. The Majority leader asked that the request be specific and put in writing so the public can see what the council can and cannot legally do.

What happened next: Committee members asked staff to send a letter to corporation counsel and requested that the law department review the matter with the new administration; the item was removed from the table for discussion and will return for further consideration following counsel's opinion.

Context and limitations: Testifiers repeatedly characterized menthol as disproportionately harmful and cited local maps and national examples; those are claims presented to the committee and are attributed to the speakers above. The committee did not adopt an ordinance or record a final legal decision at the meeting; members asked for a formal written opinion from corporation counsel before taking legislative steps.