Browse Search Feedback Other Links Home Home The Talk.Origins Archive: Exploring the Creation/Evolution Controversy

Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2004
Previous Claim: CB110   |   List of Claims   |   Next Claim: CB121

Claim CB120:

The overall effect of mutations is to lower the viability of populations, due to the "genetic load," or genetic burden, that they add to the gene pool.

Source:

Morris, Henry M., 1974. Scientific Creationism, Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 56-57.

Response:

  1. As new harmful mutations enter the population, selection removes existing harmful traits. The genetic load of a stable population is an equilibrium between the two.

  2. Bacteria mutate much faster than plants and animals do, yet their populations are not becoming less viable.

Previous Claim: CB110   |   List of Claims   |   Next Claim: CB121

created 2003-6-9