Cora: It is natural for humans to use technology to effect changes on the environment—humans have used technology in that way for many thousands of years. Therefore, your criticism is misguided.
A
It is used to suggest that the alleged cause of terrible changes to the environment cannot be correctly described as unnatural.
B
It is used to suggest that humans have benefited from many of the changes that they have wrought on the environment.
C
It is used to suggest that Max’s conclusion that technology has wrought terrible changes on the environment has not been supported.
D
It is used to suggest that the conveniences of modern life will make it difficult for humans to return to a natural way of living.
E
It is used to suggest that it is a mistake to take the environmental changes caused by technology to be a moral issue.
Quartzbrook Farms wanted to test all of its cattle for a rare disease so it could export beef to a country that requires such testing. However, the government of Quartzbrook’s country prohibited it from testing its cattle, on the grounds that there is no scientific evidence that the risk posed by the disease justifies such testing and that the public could be misled into thinking that the testing was scientifically warranted if Quartzbrook performed the tests.
Summary
Quartzbrook Farms wanted to test all of its cattle for a rare disease in order to export beef to a country that requires such testing. However, Quartzbrook’s government prohibited the farm from testing its cattle. The government claims there is no scientific evidence the risk posed by the disease justifies such testing, and the public could be misled into thinking the testing was scientifically warranted if the farm performed the tests.
Notable Valid Inferences
A government can prohibit testing if such testing is not justified by the risk posed to the public.
A
Governments can rightfully require product testing deemed necessary to protect public safety but cannot rightfully prohibit testing even if such testing is not justified by the risk involved.
Must be false. The stimulus tells us that Quartzbrook’s government did prohibit testing and did so on the grounds that the risks posed by the disease did not justify testing. Therefore governments can rightfully prohibit testing even if testing is not justified by the risks.
B
Governments should seek to determine when product safety testing is justified by the risk posed and should provide this information to companies that are considering such testing.
Could be true. It is possible that Quartzbrook’s government had already investigated if product safety testing was justified or not.
C
A government should not allow a company to perform unnecessary product safety tests if that company’s doing so will give consumers the impression that such tests should be performed.
Could be true. The consumers’ impression was the grounds for Quartzbrook’s government to prohibit the farm from testing their cattle.
D
A government should not spend taxpayers’ money performing product safety tests if the risk posed by the products does not justify the expense of the tests.
Could be true. The stimulus does not give us any information about the source of funding for the tests. It is possible that Quartzbrook Farms planned to pay for the testing privately without using taxpayer dollars.
E
It is fair for a country’s government to require foreign companies to test the products they export to that country as long as it requires domestic companies to perform the same tests.
Could be true. The stimulus does not give us any information about Quartzbrook’s government requiring foreign companies to test. It is possible that Quartzbrook’s government imposes the same standards on foreign companies as it did on Quartzbrook Farms.