LSAT 117 – Section 2 – Question 08

LSAT 117 - Section 2 - Question 08

October 2004

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT117 S2 Q08
+LR
Except +Exc
Weaken +Weak
Link Assumption +LinkA
A
7%
154
B
1%
152
C
1%
152
D
4%
155
E
86%
163
136
144
153
 +Medium 146.765 +SubsectionMedium

Most plants have developed chemical defenses against parasites. The average plant contains about 40 natural pesticides—chemical compounds toxic to bacteria, fungi, and other parasites. Humans ingest these natural pesticides without harm every day. Therefore, the additional threat posed by synthetic pesticides sprayed on crop plants by humans is minimal.

Summarize Argument
The author argues that using synthetic pesticides on crops causes minimal harm to humans. As support, the author says that the average plant contains around 40 natural pesticides, and humans consume these natural pesticides safely.

Notable Assumptions
The author assumes that, because consuming natural pesticides in naturally occurring quantities is not harmful, consuming synthetic pesticides won’t be harmful. It could be that either the quantity or process of using synthetic pesticides is harmful for humans in a way that the natural pesticides are not.

A
Humans have been consuming natural plant pesticides for millennia and have had time to adapt to them.
This weakens the argument because it introduces a significant difference between natural and synthetic pesticides. Humans haven’t had millennia to adapt to synthetic pesticides, so these synthetic pesticides could be harmful even though we regularly eat natural pesticides.
B
The concentrations of natural pesticides in plants are typically much lower than the concentrations of synthetic pesticides in sprayed crop plants.
(B) weakens the argument because it introduces a difference in the way that natural and synthetic pesticides are used. It could be that pesticides become dangerous at a certain concentration, so the higher concentration of pesticides from synthetic pesticide use could cause harm.
C
Natural plant pesticides are typically less potent than synthetic pesticides, whose toxicity is highly concentrated.
(C) introduces another point of distinction between natural and synthetic pesticides––if the toxicity in synthetic pesticides is highly concentrated, then it makes sense that the synthetic pesticides could be harmful while natural pesticides aren’t harmful.
D
Natural plant pesticides generally serve only as defenses against specific parasites, whereas synthetic pesticides are often harmful to a wide variety of organisms.
This is another difference between natural and synthetic pesticides––natural pesticides are targeted against specific parasites, so they wouldn’t damage humans. If synthetic pesticides are more broadly harmful, they could be harmful to humans.
E
The synthetic pesticides sprayed on crop plants by humans usually have chemical structures similar to those of the natural pesticides produced by the plants.
The argument based on assumed similarities between natural and synthetic pesticides, so to weaken the argument, we need to demonstrate some distinction between the two types of pesticides that could mean that natural pesticides are safe, while synthetic pesticides aren’t.

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LSAT PrepTest 117 Explanations

Section 1 - Reading Comprehension

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Logical Reasoning

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