A popular counterclaim to evolution is the "No new genetic information" claim. Specifically, supporters of this view insist that scientists have never discovered new genetic information entering a species' genome, and that all genetic variation is a result of either loss or recombination.
Case in point: influenza. Typically, science attributes the increasing resistance to antibodies on the part of the influenza virus to its ability to mutate quickly. NNGI proponents argue that the resistance comes from a loss of preexisting genetic information that makes them vulnerable to antibodies.
Is this the case? Or are they blowing smoke?
Intuitively, exposure to environmental pollutants, replication errors, etc. would result in insertions, deletions, and modifications, so this doesn't seem likely. Evolution should proceed in all of these directions.
Does science have evidence of this? Or is all the so-called scientific evidence of it neodarwinian bull-crap?
Those of you in the know, can you provide counterexamples?
Specific counterexamples -- isolated genes from specific species that are known not to be present in previous generations, and cited sources would be nice.
Those of you who would support this claim, how would you explain that pathogens tend to *accumulate* resistance, thereby *gaining* abilities, rather than losing them?
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