OG2017 Verbal Edition CR

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OG2017 Verbal Edition CR

by richachampion » Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:05 pm
Microbiologist: A lethal strain of salmonella recently showed up in a European country, causing an outbreak of illness that killed two people and infected twenty-seven others. Investigators blame the severity of the outbreak on the overuse of antibiotics, since the salmonella bacteria tested were shown to be drug-resistant. But this is unlikely because patients in the country where the outbreak occurred cannot obtain antibiotics to treat illness without a prescription, and the country's doctors prescribe antibiotics less readily than do doctors in any other European country.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the microbiologist's reasoning?

A.Physicians in the country where the outbreak occurred have become hesitant to prescribe antibiotics since they are frequently in short supply.
B.People in the country where the outbreak occurred often consume foods produced from animals that eat antibiotics-laden livestock feed.
C.Use of antibiotics in two countries that neighbor the country where the outbreak occurred has risen over the past decade.
D.Drug-resistant strains of salmonella have not been found in countries in which antibiotics are not generally available.
E.Salmonella has been shown to spread easily along the distribution chains of certain vegetables, such as raw tomatoes.


OA: B
Source: OG 2017 Verbal Edition

I request you help me dive deeper into the flow of the argument and should we consider attacking evidence or assumption. Its a tough question according to me.

My understanding

Microbiologist: A lethal strain of salmonella recently showed up in a European country, causing an outbreak of illness that killed two people and infected twenty-seven others. [Hard Core Fact]

Investigators blame the severity of the outbreak on the overuse of antibiotics, since the salmonella bacteria tested were shown to be drug-resistant. [Explanation]
Honestly I do not fully understand the english here.

But this is unlikely because patients in the country where the outbreak occurred cannot obtain antibiotics to treat illness without a prescription, and the country's doctors prescribe antibiotics less readily than do doctors in any other European country.[Causal Assumption]
Only doctors prescription, which is rare to obtain, can help get antibiotic = Insufficient antibiotic to outbreak


I have eliminated A and C because they were complete OFS.


B. People in the country where the outbreak occurred often consume foods produced from animals that eat antibiotics-laden livestock feed.
D. Drug-resistant strains of salmonella have not been found in countries in which antibiotics are not generally available.
E. Salmonella has been shown to spread easily along the distribution chains of certain vegetables, such as raw tomatoes.

But I find B, D and E all are competitive.
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by richachampion » Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:23 pm
I think I know have the answer to eliminate D.

D. Drug-resistant strains of salmonella have not been found in countries in which antibiotics are not generally available.

Option D simply restates what is stated or established in the argument that is =

Antibiotics creates Drug-resistant strains of salmonella, but this option fails to contradict the causal assumption that doctors prescription and thus buying them from the chemist is the only source of antibiotics.

It can be treated as reiteration of the premise or a kind of strengthener.
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by DavidG@VeritasPrep » Thu Dec 22, 2016 11:57 am
richachampion wrote:Microbiologist: A lethal strain of salmonella recently showed up in a European country, causing an outbreak of illness that killed two people and infected twenty-seven others. Investigators blame the severity of the outbreak on the overuse of antibiotics, since the salmonella bacteria tested were shown to be drug-resistant. But this is unlikely because patients in the country where the outbreak occurred cannot obtain antibiotics to treat illness without a prescription, and the country's doctors prescribe antibiotics less readily than do doctors in any other European country.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the microbiologist's reasoning?

A.Physicians in the country where the outbreak occurred have become hesitant to prescribe antibiotics since they are frequently in short supply.
B.People in the country where the outbreak occurred often consume foods produced from animals that eat antibiotics-laden livestock feed.
C.Use of antibiotics in two countries that neighbor the country where the outbreak occurred has risen over the past decade.
D.Drug-resistant strains of salmonella have not been found in countries in which antibiotics are not generally available.
E.Salmonella has been shown to spread easily along the distribution chains of certain vegetables, such as raw tomatoes.


OA: B
Source: OG 2017 Verbal Edition

I request you help me dive deeper into the flow of the argument and should we consider attacking evidence or assumption. Its a tough question according to me.

My understanding

Microbiologist: A lethal strain of salmonella recently showed up in a European country, causing an outbreak of illness that killed two people and infected twenty-seven others. [Hard Core Fact]

Investigators blame the severity of the outbreak on the overuse of antibiotics, since the salmonella bacteria tested were shown to be drug-resistant. [Explanation]
Honestly I do not fully understand the english here.

But this is unlikely because patients in the country where the outbreak occurred cannot obtain antibiotics to treat illness without a prescription, and the country's doctors prescribe antibiotics less readily than do doctors in any other European country.[Causal Assumption]
Only doctors prescription, which is rare to obtain, can help get antibiotic = Insufficient antibiotic to outbreak


I have eliminated A and C because they were complete OFS.


B. People in the country where the outbreak occurred often consume foods produced from animals that eat antibiotics-laden livestock feed.
D. Drug-resistant strains of salmonella have not been found in countries in which antibiotics are not generally available.
E. Salmonella has been shown to spread easily along the distribution chains of certain vegetables, such as raw tomatoes.

But I find B, D and E all are competitive.
The conclusion here is that overuse of antibiotics is not responsible for the Salmonella outbreak. If we want to weaken that conclusion we want to show that overuse of antibiotics is responsible for the outbreak.

B looks good: here, rather than antibiotics being overused in humans, we see they're overused in animals that are then consumed by humans.

D and E tell us nothing about how antibiotics may have been overused. Neither weakens the argument that overuse of antibiotics is not responsible for the outbreak.
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