Bird flu a lame claim to evolution theory

If the human population is suddenly decimated by a bird flu pandemic, will it be because the H5N1 virus that causes the disease "mutated?" Or is the use of the word "mutation" an inaccurate, perhaps even deceptive, description of so-called changes occurring in the virus?

The June 24 Health and Science page of the Tribune carried the alarming headline, "Mutation found in bird flu." The story was about the H5N1 virus "mutating slightly" and spreading from person to person in an Indonesian family. The article said the mutated virus had stopped, and there was no danger of a pandemic arising from the situation. However, we are once again warned: "Experts fear the H5N1 virus could eventually mutate (there's the word again) into a highly contagious form that spreads easily among people, potentially sparking a global pandemic."

Recently there have been numerous articles in the Tribune, and no doubt every other major newspaper in the United States, in which a scientist, politician or "expert" reiterates the same message. Perhaps an item that best expressed the case was a letter to the editor by Michael Taber back on Jan. 21, "Compare evolution with the need for bird-flu vaccine." Taber flatly states what other writers merely imply. He contends that if there is a bird flu pandemic, it will be because the virus has "mutated" into a form that can more easily infect humans. Hence, when the pandemic appears, evolution can be proclaimed triumphant. He says that only people who believe in evolution should be inoculated.

Taber gets to the heart of the matter. Darwin's theory of evolution proposed that changes that cause one species to evolve into another occur through random mutations which are carried on through succeeding generations. Hence, apes eventually became humans by a series of mutations. Mutation, in this sense, is a result of genetic damage.

But now, "mutation" is being redefined to include any change. If changes can be found in the population of a species they are proclaimed by those who believe in evolution as proof of the theory. The same logic is used in telling us that mosquitoes have "mutated" to become resistant to DDT. But the fact is, before the use of DDT, a small group in the total mosquito population was already resistant. When the insecticide was applied, the resistant insects survived while the unresistant died. The resistant then reproduced forming a strain (a group with common ancestry) of resistant mosquitoes. This an example of population shift, not of mutation in the Darwinian sense. The same fundamentals are used intentionally in cattle breeding to create a population shift that changes a herd of Herefords into black Angus.

The same principle applies in the H5N1 virus. Obviously, at least one strain of the virus is already capable of getting into some segments of the human population (since numerous people have already died of bird flu). All that is necessary for a pandemic is for those strains to become more prevalent -- or perhaps, for the flu to wend its way into a group of more susceptible humans. Regardless, no mutation will be required for the sickness to make the leap to pandemic. All that is necessary is the right set of circumstances -- circumstances that have nothing to do with evolution.

Don't be fooled by evolutionists who want to promote their theory by redefining "mutation" to include population shifts. They aren't the same thing. Evolutionists will have to look elsewhere for elusive proof of their creation story.

Mile Martin of Greeley has a degree in technical journalism from Colorado State University and is former editor of Ag Weekly Magazine.