OAKLAND — Two council members are proposing a citywide ban on flavored tobacco products, arguing Big Tobacco targets the products to youth, many living in poor neighborhoods.

Councilmembers Annie Campbell Washington and Larry Reid, at a news conference in front of City Hall on Tuesday, urged their colleagues to adopt the legislation, calling deaths related to smoking an epidemic in Oakland.

“This is a fight against tobacco companies who for too long have had free rein to target our young people,” said Campbell Washington, the legislation’s lead author.

If approved, the ordinance would prohibit all flavored tobacco products from being sold in Oakland, except for stores that primarily sell tobacco and are off limits to people younger than 18.

In a letter to City Council, Campbell Washington and Reid said there are 421 Oakland retailers who sell the products, several of them within 1,000 feet of a school.

Between 2013 and 2015, diseases such as cancer, heart disease, strokes and respiratory diseases accounted for 55 percent of deaths of Oakland residents, according to a county public health study cited by the council members. Campbell Washington said many those diseases could be linked to smoking. By comparison, homicides, suicides and injuries accounted for about 10 percent of deaths.

Berkeley, El Cerrito, Hayward, Sonoma and Santa Clara County have similar tobacco regulations.

For Reid the issue is personal. A smoker since age 18, the 67-year-old hasn’t taken a drag of a cigarette in almost a month. The longtime councilman said he decided to quit after recently undergoing heart surgery, his fourth. He’s tried to quit before but said this time is for good.

“I’d rather be standing here than being down there,” he said pointing to the ground.

The council’s Life Enrichment Committee was expected to pass the ordinance Tuesday afternoon and recommend the full council adopt it.

Thomas Briant, the executive director and legal counsel for the National Association of Tobacco Outlets, Inc., said federal law preempts cities from restricting flavored tobacco. Briant said stores stand to lose thousands of dollars in sales if the ban is approved.

“This significant decline in net income will be exacerbated because of the loss of other product sales including gasoline, snacks and beverages when adult customers simply drive a short distance to another Bay Area city to buy their preferred tobacco products and make other purchases,” he said in a statement.