LR Supplemental #5 Q. 535

[Jkjones3789]

Hello, I usually don't have a problem with weaken but this last set is killing me !!! That's a good thing exposure is always good. Okay so with this Weaken Question my prephrase was show an alternate cause of melanoma maybe or like why this advice would be not as good. I went with D but it is A. Please tell me what I am doing wrong when considering these weaken questions, since I tend to be doing it over and over in this last set Thank You !

[Robert Carroll]

jk,

The doctors' recommendation is to use sunblock that prevents sunburn. But the stimulus has not made a connection between sunburn and melanoma. Since this is a Weaken question, a good possibility for an answer is one that points out and expands this distinction between sunburn and melanoma - if we were more sure there was no connection, then it would seem that doctors are not recommending something very effective. Answer choice (A) does that; if your criterion for effective sunblock is what prevents sunburn, but no wavelengths of sunlight cause both sunburn and melanoma, then there is not particular reason to think your criterion for choosing sunblock is very good (if the goal is to prevent melanoma).

Answer choice (D) does not address this weakness. Even if toxins in certain chemical compounds also cause melanoma, we know from the stimulus that the main cause is still certain wavelengths of sunlight. Just saying that melanoma can occur other ways does not negate the doctors' recommendation; they never claimed their recommendation was a prevention for all melanoma. Nor do we have reason to think that the sunblock recommended contains the toxins that might cause melanoma; there is no basis to think that. For these reasons, (D) does not weaken the argument.

Robert Carroll