Q24 - Consumer advocate: Some agricultural crops

[Laura Damone]

Question Type:
Weaken

Stimulus Breakdown:
Conclusion: The fact that genetically engineered crops are producing drugs raises the possibility that the drugs will end up in the general food supply.

Premises: If pollen from a nearby drug-producing crop drifts into the field of an ordinary crop of the same species, the pollen could fertilize that crop.

Intermediate Conclusion: Fertilization would turn the ordinary crop into a drug-producing crop.

Answer Anticipation:
I see a few gaps here. The first is between the premise and the intermediate conclusion. Will fertilization really result in the ordinary crop turning into the drug-producing crop? Maybe it would end up being a hybrid that doesn't work for the drug production. The other gap is between the Intermediate and Main conclusions. Even if fertilization does result in the crop becoming potentially-drug-producing, who's to say that it would still end up in the general food supply? Maybe it would exhibit characteristics that would prevent that. The fact that "general food supply" is a new concept in the conclusion tells me there's a gap there!

Correct answer:
D

Answer choice analysis:
(A) Wrong. The issue is not whether it would be harmful in the general food supply. The issue is whether it would indeed end up there.

(B) Illegal negation of the premise. Eliminate!

(C) Tempting… if we knew for sure that the crops that produce drugs aren't food crops, and are, for example, crops for animal feed or compost, that would be a great weakener because it would prove that they wouldn't end up in the food supply. But C doesn't take it quite far enough to establish this.

(D) Bingo! If this is true, fertilization wouldn't result in the drug entering the food supply, because the drug is contained exclusively in the non-food parts of the plant.

(E) Close! The two crops being identifiably different is a weakener, but this is just too narrow because it only establishes that they're identifiably different to scientists, not to farmers or others who would control whether and how those crops enter the food supply. Eliminate!

Takeaway/Pattern:
Weaken answers can attack the link between a premise and a main conclusion, a premise and an intermediate conclusion, or an intermediate and a main conclusion. Be vigilant for answers that are close but too weak or narrow, like C and E!