Critical Reasoning

Though sucking zinc lozenges has been promoted as treatment for the common cold, research has revealed no consistant effect. Recently,however, a zinc gel applied nasally has been shown
to greatly reduce the duration of colds. Since the gel contains zinc in the same form and concentration as the lozenges, the greater the effectiveness of the gel must be due to the fact that cold virus tend to concentrate in the nose, not the mouth.

Which of the following, if true , most sesiously weakens the argument?

A. Expiremental subjects who used the zinc gel not only had colds of shorter duration but also had less sever symptoms than did those who used a gel that did not contain zinc.
B. The mechanism by which zinc effects the viruses that caused the common cold has not been conclusively established.
C. to make them palatable, zinc lozenges generally contains other ingredients, such as citric acid,, that can interfer with the chemical activity of zinc.
D. no Zinc based remedy can have any effect unless it is taken or applied within 48 hrs of the onset of cold symptoms.
E. Drug company researchers experimenting with nasal spray beased on zinc have found that it has much the same effect on colds as the gel does.

can you please explain me why its not A but C??? i dont feel C in scope

diebeatsthegmat wrote:Though sucking zinc lozenges has been promoted as treatment for the common cold, research has revealed no consistant effect. Recently,however, a zinc gel applied nasally has been shown
to greatly reduce the duration of colds. Since the gel contains zinc in the same form and concentration as the lozenges, the greater the effectiveness of the gel must be due to the fact that cold virus tend to concentrate in the nose, not the mouth.

Which of the following, if true , most sesiously weakens the argument?

A. Expiremental subjects who used the zinc gel not only had colds of shorter duration but also had less sever symptoms than did those who used a gel that did not contain zinc.
B. The mechanism by which zinc effects the viruses that caused the common cold has not been conclusively established.
C. to make them palatable, zinc lozenges generally contains other ingredients, such as citric acid,, that can interfer with the chemical activity of zinc.
D. no Zinc based remedy can have any effect unless it is taken or applied within 48 hrs of the onset of cold symptoms.
E. Drug company researchers experimenting with nasal spray beased on zinc have found that it has much the same effect on colds as the gel does.

can you please explain me why its not A but C??? i dont feel C in scope

I think question is weakening the arguement

What we have to weaken:
X has not been effective.However modified X has been effective.The greater the effectiveness of the gel(Modified X) must be due to the fact that cold virus tend to concentrate in the nose, not the mouth.(earlier it says "gel is applied nasally" )

We have to prove:No it was not that is has been more effective as it is modified or it has been applied in nasal.There were(may be) some other factors

A says gel was more effective.It adds nothing to what we have to weaken.(Same thing,we already know modified X has been effective)

Now C

to make them palatable, zinc lozenges generally contains other ingredients, such as citric acid,, that can interfer with the chemical activity of zinc.

Now we can say
No the effectivess was not because it was applied to nose(as claimed) it may be because of ingredients, such as citric acid(which is present is modified X,ie Gel but not in original gel).
OR
its effectivess was not because of form rather it was becuase of added ingredients


I think that makes sense

thanks