Most plants have developed chemical

Answer choices

1. A

   Weakens9% picked this

   Humans have been consuming natural plant pesticides for millennia and have had time to

   This points out a salient difference between natural and synthetic pesticides. While we've had thousands of years to evolve a tolerance for natural pesticides (rendering them essentially harmless when we consume them), we haven't evolved a tolerance for synthetic pesticides, which have only been around for a century or two (too fast for evolution).

   9%
2. B

   Weakens2% picked this

   The concentrations of natural pesticides in plants are typically much lower than the concentrations of synthetic pesticides

   This points out a salient difference between natural and synthetic pesticides that could allow us to argue that synthetic pesticides are more worrisome than natural ones are. Humans harmlessly ingest natural pesticides, because there are only trace amounts of natural pesticides on the food (let's say there's only 1mg of pesticide). Meanwhile, a thick layer of synthetic pesticides is sprayed on the food, so we might be consuming 20mg of synthetic pesticide and only 1mg of natural pesticide.

   2%
3. C

   Weakens4% picked this

   Natural plant pesticides are typically less potent than synthetic pesticides, whose toxicity

   This points out a salient difference between natural and synthetic pesticides that could allow us to argue that synthetic pesticides are more worrisome than natural ones are. Synthetic pesticides have highly concentrated toxicity, whereas natural pesticides are usually less potent. (B) was saying, you're ingesting 1 mg of natural pesticide vs. 10 mg of synthetic. (C) is saying that a milligram of natural pesticide isn't as poisonous as is a milligram of synthetic pesticide.

   4%
4. D

   Weakens6% picked this

   Natural plant pesticides generally serve only as defenses against specific parasites, whereas synthetic pesticides are often harmful to

   This points out a salient difference between natural and synthetic pesticides that could allow us to argue that synthetic pesticides are more worrisome than natural ones are. Humans harmlessly ingest natural pesticides, because those pesticides are evolved to hurt insects, not humans. Meanwhile, synthetic pesticides could be more worrisome for humans, because they're often harmful to a wider variety of organisms.

   6%
5. E

   Correct79% picked this

   The synthetic pesticides sprayed on crop plants by humans usually have chemical structures similar to those of the natural

   Why this is right

   This actually strengthens the argument. Since this is an argument by comparison and the author is assuming, "if natural pesticides are harmless to humans, then synthetic pesticides will also be harmless to humans", we would weaken the argument by making natural and synthetic unfair to compare. We would strengthen the argument by making natural synthetic fair to compare. This answer makes them more comparable, saying that the synthetic pesticides work in essentially the same chemical fashion as the natural ones do. Thus, if our bodies can tolerate the chemistry of natural pesticides, it strengthens the author's claim that our bodies should be able to tolerate the similar chemistry of synthetic pesticides.

   Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   79%