Dominic Sisti hammers on the Intelligent Design crowd in Pennsylvania – in their newspaper. His claim? ID kills:
the case of H5N1 is a perfect example for why students, the public, and our politicians need to be taught clearly – without obfuscation by creationists – that evolution is a scientific fact. Evolution through natural selection is not simply a slow process creating over eons the wonderful biodiversity seen on the planet and the extinctions found in the fossil record. Evolutionary processes also constantly propel some microorganisms to become more virulent and dangerous.
In the long run, denying students the facts about evolution will put the public health at risk because it is the foundation of biomedical research. The search for cures, vaccines and prevention methods is solidly built upon the principles of evolution and their corollaries in the fields of genetics and microbiology. Denying evolution happens not only stifles the scientific thinking of students but also sets them back as would-be researchers in the biological sciences and public health.