Preptest 47, LR Section 1, Q22

[longlivetheking]

This is one of the most unsatisfactory and jaw dropping aka questions/answers. anyone care to explain?

[natashka85]

This is one of the most unsatisfactory and jaw dropping aka questions/answers. anyone care to explain?

I missed 2 question in this section one of which was this one,the key to this question is elimination,
A)not relevant
B)strengthens it ,instead of weakening,cause it talks about most pesticides that are manufactured in US,go back and read the argument,it says certain pesticides that were banned for 30 years,are still manufactured and exported
C)its hard to see this answer choice at first glance as a right one,cause it directly weakens an assumption of the argument ,cause it assumes that US`s exporting is the only practice that causes increase in the health risk to US consumers,so this one says US practice is not the only one ,there are other exporters
D)This answer choice still strengthens the argument,cause it says it poses them greater risk than to Us consumers,but the risk persists,so it strengthens,
E)not relevant

[Theopliske8711]

Yea, this one tripped me up also. I guess the article is arguing that we should stop doing what we are doing (exporting the pesticide) since it is harming us. This is an unstated conclusion, but that's the gist. In that case, C would weaken it since it would mean that even if we do stop using the pesticide, the problem would not stop... it's an iffy one at best, but remember that weaken has to only weaken it ever so slightly to be correct. Just by creating a variable in the unstated assumption, we are thereby weakening the entire thing.

I think the best strategy here might be to try all of these answers. Each one is clearly wrong, it either doesn't weaken or does, and your left with this. Pick it and go.

[CristopherG]

His conclusion is that "this practice [manufacturing and exporting domestically banned pesticides] greatly increases the health risk of US citizens."

A: Irrelevant to the reasoning in the argument.
B: Irrelevant to the argument
C: The correct answer. If other countries are producing the same pesticides, which are then being used on the same food that the US-made pesticides would be used on, the fact that the US is also manufacturing the chemicals isn't increasing their risk - the risk would exist independent of the US' decision to manufacture+export the chemicals. This is a tricky question because it hinges on the word increase.
D: Irrelevant to the conclusion
E: Irrelevant to the conclusion.

Doesn't really seem that difficult to me; if you go into it looking for the "right" answer, you might have trouble. But A,B,D,E are all easy to eliminate, so I wouldn't rate this question as particularly difficult.