LSAT 140 – Section 1 – Question 13

LSAT 140 - Section 1 - Question 13

December 2013

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT140 S1 Q13
+LR
Weaken +Weak
Causal Reasoning +CausR
Sampling +Smpl
A
77%
166
B
1%
158
C
12%
159
D
3%
157
E
7%
159
141
151
162
 +Medium 148.137 +SubsectionMedium

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Animal feed should not include genetically modified plants. A study found that laboratory rats fed genetically modified potatoes for 30 days tended to develop intestinal deformities and a weakened immune system, whereas rats fed a normal diet of foods that were not genetically modified did not develop these problems.

Summarize Argument

The author concludes that animal food should not contain genetically modified plants. He supports this by citing a study where rats fed genetically modified potatoes for 30 days developed intestinal issues and a weakened immune system, while rats fed a normal diet of non-genetically modified food did not have these problems.

Notable Assumptions

The author assumes that the study was representative and that the results observed in lab rats can be applied to all animals. Similarly, he assumes that the study on genetically modified potatoes can be generalized to all genetically modified plants, without considering differences between plant types.

He also assumes that the problems in the rats were caused solely by the genetic modification of the potatoes, without considering other factors or variables between the groups that could have influenced the results.

A
Potatoes are not normally a part of the diet of laboratory rats.

This highlights the assumption that the genetic modification of potatoes caused the rats' problems. But if potatoes aren’t typically part of lab rats’ diets and the other group ate a “normal diet,” it makes sense that the rats fed only potatoes might develop issues.

B
The rats tended to eat more of the genetically modified potatoes at the beginning of the 30 days than they did toward the end of the 30 days.

This doesn’t weaken the argument because, regardless of when in the 30 day study the rats ate most potatoes, they still developed intestinal deformities and weakened immune systems by the end of the study.

C
Intestinal deformities at birth are not uncommon among rats bred in laboratory conditions.

Even if this were true, the rats fed a normal diet would be expected to have intestinal deformities too. Also, the study focuses on problems that developed during the 30-day period, so any issues the rats had from birth wouldn’t affect the results.

D
Genetically modified potatoes have the same nutritional value to rats as do potatoes that are not genetically modified.

The nutritional value of genetically modified potatoes versus normal potatoes is irrelevant to this argument, which only addresses the effects of genetically modified potatoes.

E
The researchers conducting the study were unable to explain how the genetic modifications of the potatoes would have caused the intestinal deformities or a weakened immune system in the rats.

Whether the researches could explain why the genetic modifications caused the rats’ problems does not weaken the author’s conclusion that they did cause the problems and thus shouldn’t be present in animal feed.

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LSAT PrepTest 140 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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