Re:That's utterly ridiculous. (Score 2, Informative)

The flu (and pneumonia) is actually the 8th leading cause of death in the US. The first two leading causes of death are heart disease and cancer, with more than 10x the number of deaths than the flu. Both of these can be caused by smoking.

Heart disease: 631,636
Cancer: 559,888
Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 137,119
Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 124,583
Accidents (unintentional injuries): 121,599
Diabetes: 72,449
Alzheimer's disease: 72,432
Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,326
Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 45,344
Septicemia: 34,234
From the CDC