It's a shame and a terrible irony that one of the most successful industries on our planet is also one of the leading causes of deaths on Earth.
The methods of calculating that 400,000 number are highly suspect.
Nearly 60 percent of the deaths occur at age 70 or above; nearly 45 percent at age 75 or above; and almost 17 percent at the grand old age of 85 or above! Nevertheless, without the slightest embarrassment, the public health community persists in characterizing those deaths as “premature.”
tobacco-related deaths occur at an average age of roughly 72, an age at which mortality is not unusual among smokers and non-smokers alike.
https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/blowing-smoke-a...
I'm not disagreeing that they are harmful, but 400,000 deaths a year is hyperbole. Governments make a lot of money on that hyperbole too.
In Fiscal Year 2010, the federal excise tax on cigarettes (currently $1.01 per pack) brought in $15.5 billion in revenue.
In 2009, states raked in more than $24 billion by taxing cigarettes and $8.8 billion in settlement payments from tobacco companies
http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/28/what-would-an-america-with...