PT109.S3.Q11 > Analytics

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Some people claim that the reason herbs are not prescribed as drugs by licensed physicians is that the medical effectiveness of herbs is seriously in doubt. ██ ████ ███ ██ ███████ ███ █████ ████████ ██████ ██ ███ █████████████████ ████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██ ████████ █████████ ██ ███████████ ██ █████ █████ ████ ███████ ██ ███ █████████████████ ████████ ███ █ █████ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██ █ ██████ ███ ██████ ██ ███████ ████ █████ █████████ ████████ ███████ ██ ██████████ ██████████ ██████████ ████ █████ ███ ██ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███ █████ █████████ ████ ██████ ███ ██████████ █████ ███ ███████ ██████ ████████ ██████████ ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██ ██████

Summarize Argument: Phenomenon-Hypothesis

The stimulus focuses on explaining a particular phenomenon: the fact that licensed physicians do not prescribe herbs as drugs. The author starts by summarizing some people's argument that the reason for this phenomenon is that the medical effectiveness of herbs is doubtful.

But the author then suggests another explanation: drugs cannot be offered for sale unless they have regulatory approval, and to get regulatory approval requires around 200 million dollars. But such money can only be expected for a drug that is patented, and herbs themselves cannot be patented. Thus, the real reason doctors do not prescribe herbs, the author concludes, is regulatory and financial restrictions that make it impossible for doctors to prescribe herbs.

11.

The argument depends on the ██████████ ████

Question Type

Necessary assumption

The argument tells us a necessary condition for drugs to be sold, and then tells us that, because this necessary condition is not met for herbs, physicians cannot recommend the medical use of herbs. This assumes that physicians could only recommend the use of herbs if herbs could be sold as drugs. But if herbs are not considered "drugs" and so are not subject to the same regulations, perhaps physicians could just recommend that people buy herbs in the produce section of the supermarket or something. The argument assumes this is not the case.

Similarly, the argument assumes that herbs' effectiveness is not also in doubt, in addition to herbs not being able to be sold as drugs. In other words, the argument assumes that, if herbs could be sold as drugs, physicians would recommend them, rather than continuing to not recommend them because their medical effectiveness is in doubt.

the medical ineffectiveness ██ ████ █████ ██ ██████████ ███ ████████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ██ ████ ███████████

Incorrect. Far from being a necessary assumption, (A), if true, would weaken the argument by suggesting that the reason physicians don't recommend herbs is that herbs are ineffective after all, and not just that herbs can't be sold as drugs.

the only time █ █████████ ██ ████████ ████ ██ █ ████ ██ ████ ██ ██ ██████████ ██ █ ████ ██ █ ████████ █████████

Incorrect. Nothing in the argument talks about when a substance is "properly used as a drug."

a licensed physician ██████ █████████ ███ █████████ ███ ██ ██ ████ ██████ ████ ████ ██ ███████ ███ ████ ██ █ ████

Correct. This is one of the assumptions we identified in our analysis. The premises tell us a necessary condition for herbs to be sold as drugs, then concludes that, because that condition is not met, herbs cannot be recommended by physicians. This argument rests on the assumption that herbs can only be recommended by physicians if they can be sold as drugs. If we negate (C) to say that a licensed physician can recommend the medicinal use of an herb even if that herb is not offered for sale as a drug, the argument falls apart.

93%

some other substances, ███████ ██████ ███ ███ █████████ ██ █████ ███████ ███ █████████ ████ █████ ███████████ █████ ███ ███ ████████ ██ █████ █████ ██████████ ██ ██ ████████ ██████████ ██ █████

Incorrect. We're not talking about any other substances besides herbs that are not available as drugs.

the cost of ███████ ████ █████ ██ █████████████ ███████ ██ ██████ ████ ██ █████████ █████████████████ ████████ ███ ███ █████ █████ ██ █████

Incorrect. The argument isn't about the overall cost of medical care.

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PrepTest 109 - Section 3 - Question 11

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