WeakenDiff: Medium
Logic Breakdown
Passage Summary: A company representative tries to soothe public fears about a chemical leak by pointing out that modern laws require chemicals to be tested for safety, much like medicines.
Conclusion: The public does not need to be concerned about the chemicals leaking from the company's long-established dump.
Reasoning: Federal law mandates that all new chemicals and pharmaceutical substances undergo safety testing before they are marketed.
Analysis: The representative's argument relies on a shaky analogy between the 'long-established' dump and 'new' chemicals. If the dump is old, the chemicals inside it might have been produced and dumped long before these safety laws were even written. To weaken this, we should look for an answer that exposes this chronological gap or suggests that the specific chemicals in the dump aren't covered by the 'new chemical' regulations. A bit of corporate deflection is at play here, so stay skeptical of the timeline.
Conclusion: The public does not need to be concerned about the chemicals leaking from the company's long-established dump.
Reasoning: Federal law mandates that all new chemicals and pharmaceutical substances undergo safety testing before they are marketed.
Analysis: The representative's argument relies on a shaky analogy between the 'long-established' dump and 'new' chemicals. If the dump is old, the chemicals inside it might have been produced and dumped long before these safety laws were even written. To weaken this, we should look for an answer that exposes this chronological gap or suggests that the specific chemicals in the dump aren't covered by the 'new chemical' regulations. A bit of corporate deflection is at play here, so stay skeptical of the timeline.
Passage Stimulus
Passage Redacted
Unlock Full Passage9.Which one of the following, if true, most seriously weakens the representative's implied argument that the public need not be concerned about the leak?
Correct Answer
C
It shows the testing law for nonpharmaceutical chemicals is recent and that tens of thousands of older chemicals—many dangerous—predate it. Given the dump is long-established, its contents likely include untested chemicals, so the representative’s reassurance does not apply to what is actually leaking.
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