Vaccines Cause Autism?

A colleague of mine just last week shared with me an article from Rolling Stone called "Deadly Immunity," which discusses a meeting that occurred years ago to cover up a connection between increasing rates of autism and increasing use of vaccines containing the mercury based preservative thimerosal.

Although the article is more than two years-old and was published in a decidedly un-medical publication, it piqued my interest and raised many questions. Among them:

• Does mercury cause autism?
• Is there a connection between thimerosal and autism?
• Was the connection covered up? Is thimerosal still used in currently prescribed vaccines?
• Why wasn't this article picked up or discussed elsewhere, and why is this the first time I'm hearing about it?
• Are the statements in this article--unreferenced and not published in the medical world--legit and able to be confirmed?

I'd love to hear what healthcare professionals have to say about it all.