GENETIC ENTROPY: DNA Mutation Rate Undermines Darwinian Evolution
billnugent
May 15, 2017 · 5 min read
The recent mapping of the human genome (DNA) has been revolutionizing science and has immense practical applications in many fields, including law enforcement. You’ve certainly read that DNA evidence compellingly links perpetrators to crimes and sends them to jail. DNA evidence has, in many cases, set innocent people free. DNA evidence also reveals the fatal flaws of Darwinism.
Did you know that each baby is born with more than one hundred new genetic mutations? These are usually very minor “point” mutations that each involve only one nucleotide base pair in the DNA. These new point mutations are usually neutral or slightly harmful to the child. Nevertheless, it is very significant that mainstream geneticists are writing about the commonplace occurrence of mutations in DNA.
I will show that this generation by generation mutational deterioration of the DNA gives a major blow to the Darwinian evolution hypothesis.
Recently a German scientist attacked one of my articles on my blog over at Wordpress.com. He’s affiliated with the Max Planck Institute of Berlin. He questioned what I wrote in an article about the large number of genetic differences between humans and chimpanzees. In his comments he acknowledged that a conservative estimate of the mutation rate is twenty glitches or copying errors in the DNA every generation. This is extraordinary and is clear evidence of genetic entropy. Scientists now generally agree that the DNA of humans is mutating rapidly.
My critic’s conservative estimate of the mutation rate as being twenty point mutations per generation is very low. Geneticists such as Kondrashov give a low estimate of one hundred. Nachman and Crowell estimate 175 mutations per generation (see Genetic Entropy by Dr. John Sanford, FMS Publ. p. 34). These are astounding numbers of mutations when applied to Darwinist, millions of years at 25 years per generation presuppositions. It is massive damage to the human DNA when extrapolated to the Darwinist time frame. I would say it’s fatal to Darwinism.
All geneticists, whether evolutionary or creationist, agree that the overwhelming majority of mutations are harmful or neutral. I hesitate to use the term “neutral.” Even the neutral mutations have not been proven to be totally harmless. Even neutral mutations constitute a subtle degradation of the genome.
Cornell University geneticist, Dr. John Sanford, in his book Genetic Entropy, discusses, on page 26, the findings of a leading geneticist who sorted through thousands of mutations to find only 186 beneficial mutations versus 453,732 harmful mutations. That’s a ratio of 2,439 harmful mutations to every one beneficial mutation. The upshot is that the human genome is devolving, not evolving.
Evolutionists claim that harmful mutations are being eliminated by natural selection but this is not true. The mildly harmful mutations only tend to be eliminated over generations. The truth is that scientists in the field of population genetics have found that bad mutations are gradually accumulating in human DNA.
Most of these point mutations are claimed to be neutral; they don’t hurt us or help us. A point mutation involving the sequence of one base pair in a gene that codes for a protein would result in a slightly modified protein that is still useful to the body. Yet, as I Mentioned earlier, even “neutral” mutations constitute a subtle degradation of the DNA with unknown overall consequences. However, some point mutations can be horribly crippling or deadly. The mapping of the human genome has shown that cystic fibrosis is caused by a random change of just three base pairs in a gene that codes for a 1,480 base pair long ion transport protein.
There are nearly 4,000 diseases caused by DNA mutations and they are being studied all the time. How many beneficial mutations are being studied? Do a web search and you will find very few and even these beneficial mutations are not unequivocally beneficial. In other words, the “beneficial” mutations also affect some other biological pathways negatively.
Let’s put this in theological perspective. The book of Genesis, in the third chapter, gives the historical narrative of man’s fall into sin against God. This passage continues to describe the consequences of sin which is the curse. The curse manifests itself in many ways including the gradual breakdown and degradation of complex biological systems.
Operational geneticists of all theological persuasions or no theological persuasion observe the compelling evidence that the genome is degrading. The few beneficial mutations are crushed by an avalanche of neutral and harmful mutations. Furthermore, we must remember that mutations are errors that don’t add new information to the DNA. Mutations don’t add new base pairs that would add new organs to a body. Even gene duplication is a mere repeat of pre-existing information in the DNA. One cause of genetic mutations is radiation. Radiation doesn’t carry nucleotide base pairs and add them to the DNA. Radiation damages DNA as it is synthesized and rearranges the sequence of base pairs that already exist in the DNA.
In short, the beneficial mutations are too few in number and their failure to add new information renders the “beneficial mutation followed by natural selection” paradigm insufficient to account for the arrival and uphill change of living organisms.
There is much dissent against Darwinism in the scientific community. Many scientists have embraced Intelligent Design as a new paradigm and affiliate with the Discovery Institute of Seattle Washington.
