Final answer:
Traits that help organisms survive and reproduce can sometimes become harmful under changing environmental conditions or when the cost of the trait outweighs its benefits.
Thus, the statement is false because adaptations and the benefits they confer are context-dependent.
Step-by-step explanation:
The statement that traits of organisms that help them in some way will never be harmful is false.
While many traits are adaptations that increase an organism's survival and reproductivity, some traits can also become detrimental in certain environments or situations. An adaptation is a heritable trait that helps the survival and reproduction of an organism in its present environment.
Natural selection enhances these adaptations over time, but it is important to remember that the environment can change, and what used to be advantageous can become disadvantageous, or a trait may carry a cost as well as a benefit, such as in the case of the handicap principle and good genes hypothesis in sexual selection.
Regarding adaptations, natural selection is a key process. It causes beneficial heritable traits to become more common in a population. However, because natural selection can only work with existing genetic variation, and new mutations, it cannot produce a perfect organism. Instead, it optimizes organisms within their current context, which means even helpful traits might become harmful if conditions change significantly.