The post below about thimerosal, childhood vaccines, autism, and Eli Lilly & Co. has generated an unusually high level of e-mail from readers.

With the exception of one, all of those who have written objected both to the post and to the article published by In These Times to which I linked, many coming to a blazing defense of the pharmaceutical industry, and/or asserting as nonsensical any possible connection between thimerosal and autism, and/or subtly alluding to the parental hysteria issue.

Judging by their addresses, most of the critical e-mail appears to be coming from your ordinary Joes and Janes, albeit regular Joes and Janes who possess considerable knowledge about the thimerosal/autism debate and the various studies of the subject, with a decided emphasis on drawing attention to research that disputes a connection between thimerosal and autism. (Studies and commentary about this controversy, from both sides and neither side, can be found all over the web. I encourage you to look into the matter.)

I suppose many a man on the street who has had no personal experience with autism (which goes for me as well, by the way) has been following the thimerosal/autism debate so closely as to be more expert on this matter than I am.

I admit to being fairly new to the controversy, so perhaps I should defer to their better judgment.

And yet my referral log reveals that numerous recent visitors to Rittenhouse are accessing the site from servers based at pharmaceutical companies.

Just a coincidence, I’m sure. Stranger things have happened.