Page 227 - The Errors the American National Academy of Sciences

The NAS's Errors in the Chapter on Creationism and
The Evidence for Evolution

will make the insect resistant to the poison. Just as in the case of bac-
teria, insects can also gain resistance if the functioning of a nerve cell
protein is reduced in just the right way.
Evolutionists portray the acquisition by insects of resistance by
means of mutation as evidence for the theory of evolution. Yet, they

forget—or deliberately ignore—one very important point: the alter-
ation of an amino acid within a protein usually affects the function-
ing of that protein. Although such a change in a protein may bring
resistance to poisons such as DDT, it may also lead to the loss of
other functions or features. Naturally, as long as the pesticide in
question is around, the creature gains resistance and survives, al-
beit at the cost of being less well adapted in some other way. When
the poison is removed, however, the non-resistant species is again

at an advantage.
M.W. Rowland from the Rothamsted Experimental Station in
England reported that mosquitoes made resistant to dieldrin became
9
less active and slower to respond to stimuli than other insects. The
resistance of insects to the poison was acquired at the cost of a "slug-
gish" nervous system. The loss of information at the molecular level
emerges as a loss in the insects' performance.

Therefore, it is erroneous to regard the mutations that bring

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