Some dairy farmers in the province of Takandia want to give

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Some dairy farmers in the province of Takandia want to give their cows a synthetic hormone that increases milk production. Many Takandians. however, do not want to buy milk from cows given the synthetic hormone. For this reason Takandia's legislature is considering a measure requiring milk from cows given the hormone to be labeled as such. Even if the measure is defeated. dairy farmers who use the hormone ill probably lose customers. since ___________

A it has not been proven that any trace of the synthetic hormone exists in the milk of cows given the hormone

B some farmers in Takandia who plan to use the synthetic hormone will probably not do so if the measure were passed

C milk from cows that have not been given the synthetic hormone can be labeled as such without any legislative action

D. the legislature's consideration of the bill has been widely publicized

E milk that comes from cows given the synthetic hormone looks and tastes the same as milk from cows that have not received the hormone


Correct Answer: C

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by MartyMurray » Fri Nov 27, 2015 4:18 am
The implications of the prompt are that labeling the milk from cows given the hormone would cause the farmers who use the hormone to lose customers. To fill the blank we need to find something that will result in their losing customers even without the legislation.

A it has not been proven that any trace of the synthetic hormone exists in the milk of cows given the hormone

This does not give customers reason or a way to avoid milk from cows given the hormone.

B some farmers in Takandia who plan to use the synthetic hormone will probably not do so if the measure were passed

This says what will happen if the legislation is passed rather than what will happen if it is not.

C milk from cows that have not been given the synthetic hormone can be labeled as such without any legislative action

Ah, so even if the milk from cows given the hormone is not labeled as such, the milk from cows not given the hormone can still be labeled as such, creating a way for customers to differentiate between the two and avoid the milk from the cows given the hormone. So the farmers using the hormone would still lose customers.

D. the legislature's consideration of the bill has been widely publicized

This is interesting, because the publicity likely increases customer awareness of the use of the hormone, but this does not show how customers would be able to differentiate between the two types of milk.

E milk that comes from cows given the synthetic hormone looks and tastes the same as milk from cows that have not received the hormone

What this is saying is that without labeling customers would have difficulty knowing which milk is which. So this does not show how or why they would avoid the milk from cows given the hormone.


Since it shows how customers could differentiate between the two types of milk even if the legislation were not to get passed, the best answer is C.
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by vid_800 » Tue Aug 30, 2016 7:58 am
Hi Marty,

I have a doubt in the option C.
C milk from cows that have not been given the synthetic hormone can be labeled as such without any legislative action
Ah, so even if the milk from cows given the hormone is not labeled as such, the milk from cows not given the hormone can still be labeled as such, creating a way for customers to differentiate between the two and avoid the milk from the cows given the hormone. So the farmers using the hormone would still lose customers.
How can we say that customers can differentiate,aren't we assuming that farmers who uses hormone does not label their milk? what if these farmers label them incorrectly as "hormone free".

We have to make assumptions to make this option true? is that valid? or I am missing some point?

Please help me.

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by MartyMurray » Sat Sep 03, 2016 6:04 am
vid_800 wrote:Hi Marty,

I have a doubt in the option C.
C milk from cows that have not been given the synthetic hormone can be labeled as such without any legislative action
Ah, so even if the milk from cows given the hormone is not labeled as such, the milk from cows not given the hormone can still be labeled as such, creating a way for customers to differentiate between the two and avoid the milk from the cows given the hormone. So the farmers using the hormone would still lose customers.
How can we say that customers can differentiate,aren't we assuming that farmers who uses hormone does not label their milk? what if these farmers label them incorrectly as "hormone free".

We have to make assumptions to make this option true? is that valid? or I am missing some point?

Please help me.
Hi vid_800.

You are going to far with this.

While in doing GMAT CR questions one may question certain things and one may use reasonable logical extensions of what is said to find the right answer, what goes on in the questions is not all that deep.

In other words, the questions, while sometimes convoluted and tricky, are in another sense rather simple, and you don't have to start wondering about things like farmers lying about whether the milk is produced with or without hormones. Doing that would take the thinking about CR questions to a whole other level, one which does not make sense.

You have to use some judgement to get these questions right, and one aspect of using judgement is determining what type of thinking is reasonable for getting the right answer to a GMAT CR question.

One way to do that is to consider what you are thinking. Often a line of thinking has consequences that indicate that the line of thinking is not appropriate for getting the right answer. For instance, if you go with the idea that the labels discussed in this question may be saying things that are not true, then the entire question falls apart.
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