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One of the most commonly cited evidences for evolution is how bacteria gain immunity to antibiotic drugs. It is no secret that drugs are treated for one thing but then cannot deal with the next things. This is another example of why we are recommended to get a new flu shot every year. Because the virus had adapted to the vaccine from the year before. At least that is what people say.

What is really going on here? One thing that must take place for resistance to antibiotics to develop or evolve is to be exposed to the antibiotic before immunity is there. But here is the problem. They are looking at the entire population of the bacteria, not the individual ones. They cannot determine if the individuals are not already immune or not. The truth is, when a bacterium is found to be immune to one type of antibiotic, they are also found to be exposed to numerous other types of antibiotics, including types they had never been exposed to. Look at this quote from a lecture by Dr. Charles Jackson, a Creation Speaker from the Creation Truth Foundation with four degrees in Biology, Environmental Sciences, and Science Education:

“This past January Science (1/20/06) reported soil bacteria were tested against a mix of 21 old and new antibiotics. They were all -- already immune to at least 7 of the drugs. Some were immune to 15 of them -- already -- without evolving that resistance!!”

This report from Science shows precisely what I am talking about. Immunity never did evolve but was already there before the antibiotics were ever introduced.

And here is the nitty-gritty. What makes bacteria immune? It is actually a bonding peptide molecule (a type of protein) that enables the bacteria to grab other stuff it likes. When this peptide breaks down or does not function as it should, it cannot grab the antibiotics. And while this gives the illusion of a beneficial mutation, it is actually a breakdown of a previously functional protein, which overall does not benefit the bacteria. The “benefit” is actually only a benefit in the presence of antibiotics and not a benefit any other time.

So when a strain of bacteria “acquires” immunity, what has really happened? The antibiotics kill all the bacteria that are not immune. And the bacteria that were already immune survived. And when that generation of surviving bacteria reproduced to the next generation, that generation all received the immunity. And here is where the scientists will claim that immunity was acquired. But this is not actually true. The immunity was there the whole time and only those that had it survived. If a bacterium did not already have immunity, there would not be time for it develop one before the antibiotics would kill it.

As Dr. Jackson says in his talks: “Keep Thinking.”