Self-study
Asthmagon was long considered the most effective of the drugs known as beta-2 agonists, designed to alleviate asthma attacks. ████████ ███████ █████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ████ ███ ████ ████████ ████ ██████ ███ ███ ██ █████ ████ ██ ███ ██████ ████████ █████ ███████████ ███ ████ █████████ ████████ ███████ ████ ███████ █████ ██████ ███ █████ ██████ ████ ██████████ ████ ███████ █████ ████ █████████ ██████ ██ ██████ ██ ██ ███████████ █████
Summarize Argument
Some doctors argue that asthmagon should be banned for asthma patients. Their support is that almost 20% of asthma patients suffered serious side effects from asthmagon during studies.
Notable Assumptions
The doctors conclude that asthmagon should be banned based on its side effects. This means that they believe the serious side effects outweigh any potential benefits that asthmagon affords asthma patients. The doctors also assume that asthmagon hasn’t changed as a drug since these studies were undertaken, and that the studies weren’t compromised by some external factor.
6.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████████ ███ ██ ██████████
a
In Rhiago, where █████████ ███ ████ ███ ████ ██████ ██████████ ██ ███ ██████ █████████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████ ██████ █████████ ███████ ████ ███ █████
If asthma deaths increased in an area where asthmagon was prescribed, that suggests the drug isn’t working all that well. This certainly doesn’t weaken the claim that asthmagon should be banned due to its side effects.
b
Many of the ████████ █████ ███████████ ██ ████ █████████ ███ ████████████ ███ ███ ██████████ █████ █ ██████ ████████
Regardless of whether the patients had previously taken a similar drug, asthmagon had serious side effects. This doesn’t weaken the claim that the side effects are serious enough to ban the drug.
c
Despite the growing ███████ █████ ███ █████ ████ ██████████ ██ ██████ █████ █████████ █████████ ██ ██████ ██████████
We don’t care what doctors are doing at the moment. We care about whether asthmagon should be banned because of its side effects, and this doesn't give us anything to weaken that claim.
d
Among the patients █████████ ████ █████ ███ ███ ████ ████ ███████████ ██████ ████████ ████ ███████ █████ ██████ ██████████
Asthmagon does cause side effects, but only for a certain subset of patients. It doesn’t follow to ban asthmagon for everyone, which is what the doctors are recommending. This weakens that conclusion.
e
Asthmagon increases the ████████ ██ ██████ ███████ ██ ████ ██████ ███████ ███ ████ ███ █████ ██████ ██ █████ ████████
This points out yet another reason to ban asthmagon: it damages heart tissues, which certainly an undesirable side effect. We’re looking for something that weakens the doctors’ stance, which this does not.