From http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/2008/07/antivax_lies_from_a_local_repo.php#comment-973336 (done in response to a lazy reporter who pushed the antivax view without actually doing any serious review of the literature and studies, which all have failed to find any indications that vaccines cause autism) --

Mr. Wilson, while you were doing your research did you happen to actually read this website?:

http://www.fda.gov/cber/vaccine/thimerosal.htm

If you had, you have had the answer to many of your questions.

Also, while you were doing your extensive research, did you read any of these papers?:

Mercury Levels in Newborns and Infants after Receipt of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines

Authors: Pichichero ME, Gentile A, Giglio N, et al

Source: Pediatrics, February 2008; 121(2) e208-214

Mercury, Vaccines, And Autism: One Controversy, Three Histories

Author: Baker JP

Source: American Journal of Public Health, February 2008;98(2): 244-253

Continuing Increases in Autism Reported to California's Developmental Services System: Mercury in Retrograde

Authors: Schechter R, Grether JK

Source: Arch Gen Psychiatry, January 2008; 65(1):19-24

Early Thimerosal Exposure and Neuropsychological Outcomes at 7 to 10 Years

Authors: Thompson WW, Price C, Goodson B, et al; Vaccine Safety Datalink Team

Source: N Engl J Med, Sep 27, 2007; 357(13):1281-1292

Lack of Association between Rh Status, Rh Immune Globulin in Pregnancy and Autism

Authors: Miles JH, Takahashi TN

Source: Am J Med Genet, May 16, 2007

Thimerosal in Vaccines: Balancing the Risk of Adverse Effects with the Risk of Vaccine-Preventable Disease

Authors: Bigham M, Copes R

Source: Drug Safety, 2005, Vol. 28(2):89-101

Thimerosal Exposure in Infants and Developmental Disorders: A Prospective Cohort Study in the United Kingdom Does Not Support a Causal Association

Authors: Heron J, Golding J, ALSPAC Study Team

Source: Pediatrics, September 2004, Vol. 114(3):577-583

Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Autistic Spectrum Disorder: A Critical Review of Published Original Data

Authors: Parker SK, Schwartz B, Todd J, Pickering LK

Source: Pediatrics, September 2004, Vol. 114(3):793-804

Thimerosal in Vaccines: A Regulatory Prespective WHO Consultation, Geneva, 15-16 April 2002

Authors: Knezevic I, Griffiths E, Reigel F, Dobbelaer R

Source: Vaccine, May 7, 2004, Vol. 22(15-16):1836-41

The Evidence for the Safety of Thimerosal in Newborn and Infant Vaccines

Author: Clements CJ

Source: Vaccine, May 7, 2004, Vol. 22(15-16):1854-1861

Safety of Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines: A Two-Phased Study of Computerized Health Maintenance Organization Databases

Authors: Verstraeten T, Davis RL, DeStefano F, et al

Source: Pediatrics, November 2003, Vol. 112(5):1039-1048

Association Between Thimerosal-Containing Vaccine and Autism

Authors: Hviid A, Stellfeld M, Wohlfahrt J, Melbye M

Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, October 1, 2003, Vol. 290(13):1763-6

Thimerosal and the Occurrence of Autism: Negative Ecological Evidence from Danish Population-Based Data

Authors: Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, et al

Source: Pediatrics, Sept. 2003, Vol. 112(3 Pt 1):604-606

Autism and Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines. Lack of Consistent Evidence for an Association

Authors: Stehr-Green P, Tull P, Stellfeld M, Mortenson PB, Simpson D

Source: American Journal of Preventive Medicine, August 2003, Vol. 25(2):101-6

Vaccine Safety Policy Analysis in Three European Countries: The Case of Thimerosal

Authors: Freed GL, Andreae MC, Cowan AE, et al

Source: Health Policy, December 2002, Vol. 62(3):291-307

1) Have the studies Miller refers to been peer-reviewed?

2) A quick Googling shows that the book is cited by anti-vaccine websites, but not by the WHO or any other professional medical websites. This is not a good sign.

3) Many quack practictioners, knowing that they can't get published any other way, seek out pay-to-publish entities. This is how a large number of the research articles "proving" that vaccines are autism-causers have seen the light of day.

Here's the skinny on him:

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2009/02/dr_jay_gordon_will_you_please_stop_claiming.php

http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/07/dr_jay_gordon_pediatrician_to_the_stars.php

From http://www.who.int/vaccine_safety/topics/thiomersal/statement_jul2006/en/index.html

In 1999, concerns were raised in the United States of America about exposure to mercury in vaccines. This was based on the realization that the cumulative amount of mercury in the infant immunization schedule potentially exceeded the recommended threshold set by the United States government for methyl mercury. However, thiomersal, the preservative in some vaccines, contains ethyl mercury not methyl mercury. The Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety (GACVS) first assessed this issue at a special meeting in August 2000. The Committee review has been ongoing since then.

Expert consultation and data presented to the GACVS indicate that the pharmacokinetic profile of ethyl mercury is substantially different from that of methyl mercury. The half-life of ethyl mercury is short (less than one week) compared to methyl mercury (1.5 months) making exposure to ethyl mercury in blood comparatively brief. Further, ethyl mercury is actively excreted via the gut unlike methyl mercury that accumulates in the body.

Four independently conducted epidemiological studies investigating associations and frequency of neurobehavioural disorders in relation to vaccination with thiomersal-containing vaccines have been completed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Denmark. The findings from these studies do not challenge the safety of existing thiomersal-containing vaccines in infants. Recently two studies were published alleging reduction of neurodevelopmental disorders in the United States of America following discontinuation of thiomersal-containing vaccines in the national immunization programme. The Committee found the conclusions made by the authors unconvincing due to the study design, and the data source.

If you're talking about testing for things that Occam's Razor tells you are unlikely if not impossible, that's a huge waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere.

For instance: The antivax crowd says that we need more testing to see if vaccines cause autism in children. The problem is that autism is a neurological issue that the child has at birth, though it typically doesn't manifest until the child is a toddler -- right around, if not a touch after, the time vaccines are often given. Correlation does not imply causation, as any scientist can tell you.

Just let them. They'll look like idiots.