Harmful Pandering

Is there such a massive anti-thimerosal constituency out there that this is necessary?

My understanding is that there's no medical evidence of a connection between autism and thimerosal in children's vaccines. A comprehensive California study looked at the rates of autism before and after thimerosal was removed from childhood vaccines and found no difference in the rates of diagnosis of autism following the change.

Autism is a heartbreaking condition, and it's causes are still largely unknown. It is perfectly understandable that parents of autistic children are looking for a cause, both to help prevent it in future children and as a way to comprehend such an incomprehensible illness. For a while it was genuinely unclear if thimerosal in vaccines did trigger the condidion in certain children. But the evidence is in, and thus far it's pretty conclusive that there's no link. Pushing this bogus science is more than pandering, it's spreading harmful misinformation. If parent's believe this they are less likely to immunize their children, and immunization we know to be effective in drastically reducining child mortality in the populaiton. Spreading this kind of rumor is not ok. It has a real possibility to cause illness and death and it needs to be stopped.

UPDATE: According to Kevin Drum, there is a substatial (or at least very vocal) anti-vaccine lobby. Huh.