By the year 2010, 17.8 million youths aged 16-19 will work, up from 16 million in 2000, according to government forecasts. Young workers suffer a disproportionate share of injuries and fatalities, especially in the first year on the job. In 2006, 30 youths under 18 died from work-related injuries.
A mutation may or may not affect the amino acid sequence. A mutation may or may not affect the phenotype. Some specific mutations in a gene may have more adverse affects than other mutations in the same gene. A mutation is not necessarily bad. It may even be good. A mutation may enhance or positively change the function of the protein produced by the gene.
To see why most mutations are neither harmful nor helpful it helps to know a bit about what mutations actually are. A mutation is a change in the genetic material that controls heredity. The genetic material is contained in chromosomes. Plants and animals have two copies of each chromosome whereas bacteria only have one copy. Organisms which have two copies of each chromosomes are called diploids. Those which only have one copy of each chromosome are called haploids.