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Article Title:	Creationists Threaten Human Rights?
Author of reported comment:	S.MacLaren
Comment Date:	21:08 on Nov 14 2007
Comment:	I agree that the irresponsible use of antibiotics that save many lives still is to be highlighted strongly. However, Ray Ingles may not be aware that it is selection and natural variation that he should be quoting, not evolution. “Is there a difference?” -many will ask. Evolution must, by definition, be accompanied by a net gain of 'data' inside the DNA (analogous to a complex computer program) of a species. Otherwise the huge complexity of even the smallest bacterium cannot be explained. However, no such net GAIN of data or complexity has been demonstrated. Indeed the reverse is true: When a bacterial species is challenged with an antibiotic, the vast majority cannot overcome it and die, but those that tolerate it then shift the natural variability of that population towards the resistant trait. The distribution of the resistant trait is then enhanced, and the population becomes less variable. The fact is that bacteria which are resistant to antibiotics are weaker organisms which cannot survive except where specific challenges to their existence are absent. Hence, we have a problem with MRSA in places where other common bacteria are less prevalent: Hospitals. I urge careful examination of the facts about antibiotic resistance, which is so used as a proof of ‘upwards’ evolution. It is not, and indeed it is proof that evolution is not happening (at least in this instance) to cause antibiotic resistance: There is a net LOSS of information when the population shifts to a resistant one, as variability is lost. The same happens when we enhance a trait from a species by selective breeding. That is simply selection away from the normal variability. The paucity of truth in the wider scientific debate around the subject of natural selection is worse than many realize. The sole domain of objective truth is not modern science. Knowledge is constantly shifting. Please refer to articles on this problem which are available at both CMI and AIG websites.

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