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WHEN wheelchair-bound Michelle Cedillo was pushed into the US Court of Federal Claims last week, the stage was set for a drama that looks like a simple clash between scientific reason and irrationality. Michelle has severe autism. She cannot speak. She beats herself on the chest and finds any new situation disturbing. To her parents, the cause of these symptoms is not in doubt: they say they are a direct result of a mercury-containing compound called thimerosal (or thiomersal in the UK) added as a preservative to the vaccines given to Michelle as a baby (see “US vaccines on trial…