Q11 - The sun emits two types

[kim]

11. (E)
Question Type: Inference

Until 10 years ago, sunscreens protected from sunburn (UV-B) only, not premature wrinkles (UV-A). Answer (E) validly concludes that until 10 years ago sunscreen did not protect against premature wrinkles.

(A) is out of scope. The percentage who use sunscreen is not discussed.
(B) has a problem of degree. The fact that sun exposure can prematurely wrinkle skin does not mean that most people with premature wrinkles have had excessive sun exposure without sunscreen.
(C) suffers from detail creep. We know that sunscreen did not protect against UV-A, which causes wrinkles, until 10 years ago, but this does not mean that the cause of premature wrinkling was not known until then.
(D) also suffers from detail creep. Again, we know that sunscreens today protect against wrinkles while sunscreens 10 years ago did not. This does not mean that people wearing sunscreen today are less likely to get sunburn than those 10 years ago.


#officialexplanation

[AlisaS425]

Hi, first of all, thanks for the detailed explanation, though I have a question regarding the last sentence.

Does "until about 10 years ago, sunscreens protected against UV-B but not against UV-A" mean that "before 10 years ago, sunscreens protected against UV-B but not against UV-A, and since 10 years ago, sunscreens protected against both UV-B and UV-A"?

Thanks!