"'I'm saying that that message is highly questionable, and that we need a different way of characterising the way mutations arise.'

Please provide one."

Well, we could just say what we know. Mutations are known in many cases to be encouraged by mutagenic agents such as radiation and some chemicals. The extent to which most or all mutations are triggered by these or by other environmental stimuli, possibly right down to the subatomic level, is not clear, but it would be reasonable to hypothesise that most, if not all, are so caused.

In my view, "random" sits very uneasily among that lot.