#5 - Large quantities of lead dust can be released during

[Adam Tyson]

Let me start by paraphrasing the stimulus here:

"It's dangerous for non-professionals to do it themselves, but some folks are going to do it anyway, so we should show them how to reduce the risk."

We need to weaken that claim by suggesting that showing folks how to do it themselves is actually a bad idea. The author is trying to help people, so we counter that by showing that their suggestion could have the opposite effect.

In response to catherineshi99's question, the problem with answer A is that we don't really care about the people who do not have lead paint, since they are not at risk here. We are only concerned about the folks who do have it, and knowing they have it doesn't make it a bad idea to show them how to do renovations safely. We need something more active than this, something that shows a real problem with giving people these "helpful" tips.

afulbright.2000@gmail.com, even taking answer E to be true, it still has not effect on the conclusion, because the argument is about those times when the homeowner believes they can do it more cheaply, not when the expense is the same. And like answer A, this still doesn't make giving that "helpful" information a bad idea. We need to show a real problem with giving the advice, like the advice making the situation worse.

C is correct because it means people who would have chosen the safer approach will be encouraged to assume the risk themselves. This is actively making the situation worse, not better! This weakens the argument because it makes it a bad idea to share that information with the public.

This is a classic weaken scenario, by the way! Someone suggests doing something because they claim it would be good, and the correct answer points out that it could backfire and result in something bad. Watch for that pattern to repeat itself in many other questions!