The Sept. 11, 2001 terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon were pikers compared to the tobacco industry, which is responsible for the deaths of 30 million people since 2001, a new ad from Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) contends.

The worldwide death toll from terrorism since 2001 stands at about 11,337, ASH said on its website, but secondhand smoke alone kills tens of thousands of people annually. The ad features an image of two cigarettes resembling the burning Twin Towers after they were hit by hijacked passenger jets on 9/11.

The ad was produced in New Zealand, and ASH has posted the ad on its U.S. website along with a forum for comments to gauge Americans' reaction to the image. Some viewers have criticized the ad.

"It's obviously true that the tobacco companies have caused far more deaths than terrorists, than all world wars, than all natural disaster, all crime, and virtually any other event or activity which results in mass deaths," said ASH executive director John Banzhaf.

But it's not clear whether that's a comparison that viewers will find acceptable, he acknowledged.