Logical Reasoning

PT135 · S4 · Q19 Consumer advocate: In some countries

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Consumer advocate: In some countries, certain produce is routinely irradiated with gamma rays in order to extend shelf life.

Conclusion

There are some good reasons to avoid irradiated foods.

Evidence

Those foods have been exposed to the radioactive substances that produce the gamma rays. Irradiation can reduce vitamin content. Irradiation can leave behind harmful chemical residues. Irradiation spawns unique radiolytic products that can cause serious health problems such as cancer.

Evaluate

To fight this author's conclusion, we're arguing "there aren't good reasons to avoid irradiated foods", so we would have to debunk all these concerns she is raising. And since we will be getting rid of four answers that weaken (and she presented four reasons), it's probably pretty likely that we'll see answers that pick apart these objections.

Goal

Look for stuff saying

19.

Each of the following, if true, weakens the consumer advocate's argument EXCEPT:

  1. Unique radiolytic products have seldom

    Weakens

    This pushes back against the last objection raised: "unique radiolytic products aren't a good reason to avoid irradiated food since they are seldom found in irradiated food".

    7% picked this

  2. Correct

    Cancer and other serious health

    Why this is right

    This answer is just pointing out "there's a lot of different ways to get cancer, and other health problems". Cool. The author was never saying that irradiated food is the only way to get cancer or other health problems, so this poses no objection to her thinking.

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

    74% picked this

  3. A study showed that irradiation

    Weakens

    Yes, author, irradiating food can reduce vitamin content, but in virtually all fruits and veggies the vitamin content is unchanged, so that's not a good reason for avoiding irradiated food.

    5% picked this

  4. The amount of harmful chemicals

    Weakens

    Don't worry about the chemical residues --- irradiated foods actually have a smaller amount of harmful chemicals than what occurs naturally in most foods, so chemical residues aren't a good reason to avoid irradiated food.

    8% picked this

  5. A study showed that the

    Weakens

    The author's last premise was supposed to increase our concerns about imbibing a carcinogenic substance, these radiolytic substances. But if the cancer rate isn't any higher for people who eat irradiated food, it doesn't sound like ingesting radiolytic food really poses any cancer risk.

    6% picked this

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