Self-study
Scientist: Some consumer groups claim that the economic benefits of genetically engineered foodstuffs may be offset by hidden health risks to humans. ████████ ███ ████ ██ ████████ ██ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██ █ ███████ ███████ █████████ ████ █ ██████ ████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ ████ ████████ █████ ███ ██████ ██ ███ ██████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ██ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ███████ ███████████ ██████ ██ ██ ██████████
Summarize Argument
A Scientist argues that the risk to humans from eating genetically engineered foodstuffs is minimal. This is because mostly only one gene of 750,000 is changed, and such a small change cannot pose significant issues.
Notable Assumptions
The Scientist assumes that just because the number of genetic changes is so small, the change to the organism will also be small and not pose a significant risk. It could be that a major change is sparked by altering a single gene.
24.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ███████████ █████████
a
The genetically engineered ██████ ████ ████ ████ █████████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████████ ████ ██████ ████ ███ ███ ███████████ ███████████
This is irrelevant to the argument’s reasoning. The argument is focused on the impact of a single gene.
b
Whatever health risks █████ ███ ██ ████ ████ ███████████ ███████ ██████ ███ ██ ████████ ███████ ██ █████ ███████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ███ ███████ ███████ ███ ███████ ████████
While this acknowledges that the risk could be minimized, it does not impact the key reasoning in the argument. The main claim is that the risks of GMOs are minimal because only slight changes are made.
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).
c
Scientists have yet ██ ██████████ ███ ████ ██████████████ ██ ████ ██████ ███ ███████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ███████ ████████ ██ ███ █████ ████ █████████ ████ ███████████████
This is irrelevant to the argument. The reasoning is focused on how many changes there are, not the location of certain genes.
d
There are plants ████ ███ █████ ██ ██ █████ ██ ████ ███████ ███ █████ ████████ ██ █████ ██ ██ ████████ ██ ███ ██████████ ██ █ ██████ █████
This directly undermines the reasoning by showing that altering a single gene can have serious consequences. Thus, it weakens the argument.
e
Research has shown ████ █████ █████████ ███ ███ ████ ████████ ███████ ██ ███████████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████████ ██ ███ ██████
The argument is not focused on whether those opposed to GMOs are ill-informed or not. This is completely separate from the argument’s reasoning.