Self-study
Support An ingredient in marijuana known as THC has been found to inactivate herpesviruses in experiments. ██ ████████ ███████████ ███████████ █████ ████ ███████████ █████████████ ███ ███████ ███████ █████ ████ ██████ ██████ ██ ███ ██ █████████ ████ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ███ █████ ███████
Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis
The author concludes that marijuana use can cause cancer. This is because the THC in marijuana has been found to inactivate herpesviruses in a study, and inactivated herpesviruses can convert healthy cells to cancer cells.
Notable Assumptions
In order for marijuana to cause cancer, the author must assume that the studies cited reflect normal biological circumstances in humans—in other words, that this process could happen outside of a lab. The author must also assume that the cancer-causing effect of THC isn’t offset by some other protective factor in marijuana.
4.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████████ ███████ ███ █████████
a
Several teams of ██████████ █████████ ███ ███████ ███████████ ███ ███ ██ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ████████
This reinforces the study that the author cites by telling us that the result wasn't a fluke. That means this strengthens the argument rather than weakening it.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
b
The carcinogenic effect ██ ███ █████ ██ ███████████ ██ ███ █████ ███████████ █████ ██ ██████████
While THC alone converts healthy cells to cancer cells, other ingredients in marijuana offset this effect. This undermines the author's conclusion that marijuana causes cancer due to the effects of THC.
c
When THC kills █████████████ ██ ███████ ███ ██████ ███████ ███ ██ █████ ████ ████████ ███ ██████ ███████ ██ █████ █████ ████████ █████████ ███████ ██████ ██ ████████
If anything, this gives another reason why marijuana may cause cancer: THC weakens the body’s immune system, leaving it susceptible to cancer threats. This only strengthens the argument.
Directionally wrong
Directionally wrong
Answers that, if they have any effect, do the opposite of what we want (weaken when we're trying to strengthen, or strengthen when we're trying to weaken).
d
If chemists modify ███ █████████ ██ ████ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ████████████ ████ ███████████ ██ ███████ ███████
We care about the THC that actually appears in marijuana. The potential uses of modified THC are irrelevant to whether using marijuana can cause cancer.
e
To lessen the ███████████ ████ ███████ ██ █████████████ ███ ███ ██ █████████ ███ ████ ███████████ ███ ██████ ████████ ███ ███ ████ ██ ███ ████████████
This is a niche scenario that doesn’t weaken the connection between marijuana and cancer. We’re specifically interested in whether marijuana use can cause cancer via herpesviruses, and this doesn't help us with that.