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MGMAT CR - Inorganic pesticides -Experts please reply.

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MGMAT CR - Inorganic pesticides -Experts please reply.

by badpoem » Sun Sep 04, 2011 10:06 am
Inorganic pesticides remain active on the surfaces of fruits and vegetables for several days after spraying, while organic pesticides dissipate within a few hours after application, leaving the surface of the sprayed produce free of pesticide residue. Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

The argument above assumes that
A) Consumers are aware of the origins of the produce they purchase.
B) Produce from farms that use organic pesticides reaches the consumer within hours after it is picked or harvested.
C) No farm uses both organic and inorganic pesticides.
D) No pesticide is capable of penetrating the skin of a fruit or vegetable.
E) The use of either type of pesticide does not increase the cost of produce.

Answer along with an explanation please.
[spoiler]
I chose C because the conclusion - "Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides." is about using organic or inorganic pesticides.[/spoiler]
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by GAMATO » Sun Sep 04, 2011 11:29 am
IMO D.

What is the OA?
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by ColumbiaVC » Sun Sep 04, 2011 12:28 pm
D
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by thestartupguy » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:02 am
badpoem wrote:Inorganic pesticides remain active on the surfaces of fruits and vegetables for several days after spraying, while organic pesticides dissipate within a few hours after application, leaving the surface of the sprayed produce free of pesticide residue. Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

The argument above assumes that
A) Consumers are aware of the origins of the produce they purchase. irrelevant
B) Produce from farms that use organic pesticides reaches the consumer within hours after it is picked or harvested. What if the produce reaches the consumer after months. Then the pesticide -organic/inorganic doesn't matter. So the answer should be B
C) No farm uses both organic and inorganic pesticides. out of scope
D) No pesticide is capable of penetrating the skin of a fruit or vegetable. out of scope, in both the cases the argument says that the pesticides will remain on the surface
E) The use of either type of pesticide does not increase the cost of produce. irrelevant

Answer along with an explanation please.
[spoiler]
I chose C because the conclusion - "Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides." is about using organic or inorganic pesticides.[/spoiler]
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by vinayaerostar » Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:27 am
IMO B
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by GMATGuruNY » Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:03 am
badpoem wrote:Inorganic pesticides remain active on the surfaces of fruits and vegetables for several days after spraying, while organic pesticides dissipate within a few hours after application, leaving the surface of the sprayed produce free of pesticide residue. Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

The argument above assumes that
A) Consumers are aware of the origins of the produce they purchase.
B) Produce from farms that use organic pesticides reaches the consumer within hours after it is picked or harvested.
C) No farm uses both organic and inorganic pesticides.
D) No pesticide is capable of penetrating the skin of a fruit or vegetable.
E) The use of either type of pesticide does not increase the cost of produce.

Answer along with an explanation please.
[spoiler]
I chose C because the conclusion - "Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides." is about using organic or inorganic pesticides.[/spoiler]
The most powerful tool for assumption questions is the NEGATION TEST.
The assumption is WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the conclusion to be valid.
Thus, when the OA -- the assumption that MUST BE TRUE -- is NEGATED, the conclusion will be INVALIDATED and the argument will FALL APART.

Premise: Organic pesticides DISSIPATE WITHIN A FEW HOURS.
Conclusion: One NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT INGESTING pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

Answer choice D, NEGATED: Pesticides are capable of penetrating the skin of a fruit or vegetable.

The negation of D trashes the conclusion. The premise of the argument is that organic pesticides dissipate WITHIN A FEW HOURS. The negation of D implies that the pesticides could penetrate the skin during this time, invalidating the conclusion that ONE NEED NOT WORRY ABOUT INGESTING pesticides when purchasing from these farms.

Since the negation of D trashes the conclusion, D is the necessary assumption: WHAT MUST BE TRUE for the conclusion to be valid.

The correct answer is D.
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by badpoem » Sat Oct 29, 2011 8:24 am
Thank you GMATGuruNY. The realisation about the assumption is dawning on me!
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by parul9 » Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:14 am
It's D!
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by gmatdriller » Sun Nov 06, 2011 1:26 am
I don't think option C is wrong because it is out of scope.
(C) No farm uses both organic and inorganic pesticides.

Here is my reasoning below:
The argument cautions buyers from Inorganic farms => buyers know where they
are purchasing from. So, that some farm use both organic and inorganic
pesticides is NOT an issue. Argument concerns only buyers from either of both
source.

I hope my reasoning is correct; otherwise, a constructive critique will be appreciated.
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by nav!n » Sun Nov 06, 2011 4:05 am
Inorganic pesticides remain active on the surfaces of fruits and vegetables for several days after spraying, while organic pesticides dissipate within a few hours after application, leaving the surface of the sprayed produce free of pesticide residue. Therefore, when purchasing from a farm that uses inorganic pesticides, one must be careful to wash the produce thoroughly before eating it to prevent the ingestion of toxins. But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

The argument above assumes that
A) Consumers are aware of the origins of the produce they purchase.
B) Produce from farms that use organic pesticides reaches the consumer within hours after it is picked or harvested.
C) No farm uses both organic and inorganic pesticides.
D) No pesticide is capable of penetrating the skin of a fruit or vegetable.
E) The use of either type of pesticide does not increase the cost of produce.


B
The argument states that one need not to worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farm that only uses organic pesticides.
What if the fruit is sold just after application of pesticides , one may ingest pesticide ,if the fruit is consumed within few hours.
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by orgplea » Mon Feb 20, 2012 2:11 pm
For B to be true, the choice should be
"Produce from farms that use organic pesticides reaches the consumer AFTER FEW hours after it is picked or harvested" (so that the the pesticides will have enough time to get dissipated)

If the produce reaches WITHIN HOURS then the pesticide will not get dissipated and the produce will prove harmful to the consumer.
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by amahapatra » Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:58 pm
I think the answer will be D.
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by vishnum » Thu Oct 03, 2013 6:41 am
Dear GMAT GURUNY,

While considering the conclusion, why haven't you considered the statement " the inorganic foods need to be washed" as the part of the conclusion. I can see the whole part after the word Therefore as :

Inorganic foods need to be washed before use while need not to be worried for the organic foods.

When you consider above statement then the customer should know which one is inorganic and which one is organic. Isn't it?

Please clarify.

Thank you!
Vishnu.
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by mevicks » Thu Oct 03, 2013 7:57 am
vishnum wrote: Conclusion:
Inorganic foods need to be washed before use while need not to be worried for the organic foods.

Assumption:
The customer knows which one is inorganic and which one is organic.
Hi Vishnum,

As mentioned in the above posts, for an assumption question we need to test the choices by negating them. If negating the sentence DESTROYS the conclusion completely then it the the correct answer.

Your negated assumption would be: Customer doesn't know the type of pesticide used. This doesn't change the fact that the inorganic ones need washing and organic ones don't. It doesn't destroy the conclusion completely. One scenario could be that the consumer gets away by simply washing the organic produce (which is not required). So all the scenarios are not DESTROYED by this negation.

Consider the negation of original answer D: Some pesticides penetrate inside the fruit. Here both types of fruits are directly affected, no matter what the scenario is. if some chemicals have penetrated inside then irrespective of whether you wash the fruit or not BOTH THE TYPES BECOME HARMFUL. Thus your conclusion would be DESTROYED COMPLETELY by this answer choice.

Regards,
Vivek
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