Critical Reasoning

Recently, some critics of the U.S. government have pointed out that this country is the only advanced industrialized
nation without a national vaccine laboratory and suggested that this lack makes the American public more vulnerable
than other developed nations to infectious diseases, such as avian flu. A government official said these critics were
disloyal and thus wrong about the public's vulnerability. To support his claim, the official cited the generally long
life span and low infant mortality of United States citizens, relative to all United Nation member nations. Mentioning
the high quality of American hospitals, he added that all of the Europeans that he knew preferred to undergo major
medical treatments in the United States rather than in the socialized medical systems in place in their home
countries. All of the following are weaknesses or potential weaknesses in the official's argument EXCEPT:
"¢ The high quality of hospitals in the United States is not a factor affecting the public's vulnerability to infectious
disease.
"¢ Whether or not the critics are disloyal has no bearing on whether or not they are wrong.
"¢ The Europeans that the official cited are a demographically narrow sample, overwhelmingly composed of wealthy
males over the age of fifty.
"¢ The average life span of United States citizens is determined not only by deaths due to infectious diseases but also
by deaths due to all other causes.
"¢ Comparing the United States to all United Nations member nations does not address the concern that the U.S. is
behind other advanced industrialized nations in a particular way.