#9 - To allay public concern about chemicals that are

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Weaken. The correct answer choice is (C).

Answer choice (A):

Answer choice (B):

Answer choice (C): This is the correct answer choice.

Answer choice (D):

Answer choice (E):

This explanation is still in progress. Please post any questions below!

[kcho10]

Hi,

Could someone please explain why A is incorrect?

Also, I am having trouble seeing how C is correct. Isn't the scope of the argument limited to chemicals that are leaking into the river? If so, how could the fact that untested chemicals that were leaking in the past be relevant?

[Adam Tyson]

The reason that C weakens the argument, kcho, is that the chemical company is only talking about NEW chemicals, but the dump in question is "long-established", meaning it has been around for a long time. It could be full of a bunch of OLD chemicals that predate the new requirements, and those old chemicals could be leaking from the dump into the river. Just because the new chemicals are safe doesn't mean the public need not be concerned about the leak from the dump full of the old junk!

A doesn't hurt the argument because it is completely irrelevant. So what if some lifesaving substances are delayed getting to the market? What does that have to do with telling the public not to be concerned about the old dump full of chemicals that might be leaking into the river? That's a totally different problem that has nothing to do with the leak issue. It might weaken a claim that "the safety standards are a good thing for society" or that "the safety standards are sure to improve the lives of all people who come into contact with them", but that's not the argument we are being asked to weaken. We are supposed to attack the implied argument that the leak is of no concern.

I hope that sheds some light on it for you!

[Esquire123]

Hi there:) I'm struggling to understand why answer choice B would be incorrect? I really liked B because it called into question how the analogy they presented relates to the company's current situation. The analogy talks about testing "every pharmaceutical." If B is correct, it points out the fact that this long standing chemical company is just now recently checking their chemicals. Why weren't they doing this before?

[Rachael Wilkenfeld]

Hi Esquire,

Answer choice (B) doesn't really impact the argument either way. The answer choice isn't saying that the company just started testing---it says the dump just started leaking. The company representative is arguing that the leakage from the "long-established dump" is safe because of the rigorous safety testing required by the government prior to putting a chemical on the market. Let's say the leaks are only in the last few months. That doesn't tell us if the chemicals were tested or not. Same if it's been going on for decades. We want to attack the idea that the testing/government requirements guarantee the chemicals' safety. Answer choice (C) does this by showing that the dump contains chemicals that were NOT required to be tested. That hurts the argument by showing that the government regulations may not be protective here.

Hope that helps