#17 - Environmentalist: The United Kingdom recently

[Administrator]

Complete Question Explanation

Assumption. 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):

[mN2mmvf]

Hi,

I'm trying to understand why (C) is the correct answer. Why does the argument necessarily assume that "the reactions of food producers...are likely to be similar to the reactions of food producers in the United Kingdom"? Could not the reactions of the food producers be different -- in this case, they agree to the labeling, do not rid the products of genetically altered ingredients, but consumers nonetheless do just as predicted, understanding the labels as warnings and thus avoiding the products? The argument would still hold: other countries should refrain from requiring such labeling because loss of demand necessitates production alternatives. But the food producers' reaction was not the same.

Thanks!

[Francis O'Rourke]

The speaker's argument is that countries should refrain from instituting GMO labels on their foods, because these genetically modified crops are important.

Why would the speaker think that instituting labeling standards would result in growing fewer genetically modified crops? The stimulus tells us that producers in the UK abandoned GMO crops after a labeling law was instituted there, but the author never tells us about how producers in other countries will react. The conclusion needs to assume choice (C): producers in other countries will probably react similarly to producers in the UK (they will abandon GMO's).

Use the Assumption Negation Technique on this question if you are still unsure. Remember, that if you logically negate the correct answer, this negated statement will severely weaken the conclusion. Here's my phrasing of the negated statement: "food producers in other countries who institute GMO labeling laws are unlikely to react similarly to UK producers; i.e. they are unlikely to abandon growing GMO crops."

The logical negation of answer choice (C) precludes your objection: even if producers are forced by consumer demand, instead of merely predicting consumer demand, to abandon GMO crops, they are in the end, still abandoning these foods.

[mN2mmvf]

Thank you! I wasn't quite grasping the argumentative importance of needing to preserve the production of genetically altered crops. Makes sense.