Self-study
In response to requests made by the dairy industry the government is considering whether to approve the synthetic hormone BST for use in dairy cows. ███ █████████ ████ ██████████ ███ ████ █████ ██ █████████ █████ █████████████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████████ ███ ██ █████ ████████ ███ ██ ████ █████ ███████ ████ ████████ ██████████ █████ ███ ████ ██████ ██ ██████████ ████ █████ ████ ███ █████ ███ ████ ███ ███ ████ ████ █████ █████ ██████
Summary
The government is considering approving a synthetic hormone, BST, for use in dairy cows. BST increases milk production, but also leads to several adverse side effects for dairy cows. The side effects can be controlled with constant veterinary care, but constant care would cost big farms far less per dairy cow than small farms.
Strongly Supported Conclusions
If the BST hormone is approved, big farms could gain more benefits from its approval compared to small farms.
7.
If the statements above are █████ █████ ███ ██ ███ █████████ ██████ ██ ████ ████████ █████████ ██ █████
a
The government is ████████ ██ ███████ ███ █████████ ███████ ███ ███ ███ ██ █████
We don’t know whether the government is unlikely to approve BST. We only know that the government is considering its approval, not that the government would actually approve or disapprove the hormone.
b
The proportion of ████ ████ ██████ ████ █████ █████████████ █████████ ██████████ ███ ████████ ██ ██████ ██ █████████ ███████ ██ ███ █████ █████ ████ ██ █████ █████
We don’t know whether the proportion of cows that suffer from adverse side effects is greater on big farms compared to small farms. We know that BST leads to adverse side effects, but we do not know if any cows are currently suffering.
c
At the present ████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ █████ █████ ██ █████ ██ █████ ████ ████ ████ ████ ██████ ██ ███ ██████
We don’t know whether milk produced from small farms is safer to drink compared to milk from big farms. The stimulus does not address whether BST affects the safety level of consuming milk the dairy cows produce.
d
The milk from ████ ███ ███████ ███ ████ ███ ██ ████ ███ ██████ ██ ██████
We don’t know whether milk from cows who receive the BST hormone would be unsafe to drink. The stimulus does not address whether BST affects the safety level of consuming milk the dairy cows produce.
e
Owners of big █████ █████ ██ ████ ████ ████ ██████████ ████████ ██ ███ ████ ██ ██████ ██ █████ ██████
If the constant veterinary care for the cows will cost big farms less per cow than small firms, then big farms could gain more benefits from governmental approval of BST since cows treated with BST produce more milk.