Inorganic pesticides remain active

[anksm22]

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.


please explain option A , C and D

[MartyMurray]

please explain option A , C and D

A Consumers are aware of the origins of the produce they purchase.

This choice is a little funny, because in a way it does seem to be an assumption upon which the argument is based. If consumers do not know whether the food they buy comes from farms that use inorganic pesticides, then there is no way for them to make decisions about how to handle it.

Let's look at the conclusion of the argument though. It is "one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides." The argument is not concerned with whether consumers are aware of where the food comes from. The argument is saying something more along the lines of "If you are aware that you are getting food from a farm that uses only organic pesticides, then..." or maybe even more specifically "If you are buying directly from a farm that..." You can't say that you are buying from a farm that does certain things if you are not aware of whether that is the case.

So A is not really a key assumption of the argument.

C No farm uses both organic and inorganic pesticides.

C is not key to the conclusion because the conclusion is concerned only with "farms that use only organic pesticides."

D No pesticide is capable of penetrating the skin of a fruit or vegetable.

D is interesting. The conclusion "one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides" is based on the premise that the surface of the produce is free of pesticide residue. The surface is not the entire fruit, however. So even if there are no pesticides on the surface, pesticides could have penetrated the surface and be in the fruit. So the assumption that this does not happen is key to this argument and D is the correct answer.

[anksm22]

what is the conclusion here - 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.

or


But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

[MartyMurray]

what is the conclusion here - 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.

or


But one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides.

I guess the first choice you gave, the entire thing, is the conclusion.

[anksm22]

I still din't understand how A is the answer

[MartyMurray]

I still din't understand how A is the answer

That's good, because A is not the answer.

[thebestcasescenario]

Yeah totally confused here. Marty, can you clarify a little further between A, and C. With A, what if consumers don't know the origin, then they could ingest the residue, right?

With C, don't we also assume that farms don't use both. If they did then we might get some residue even if they used organic pesticide, right?

Thanks in advance.

[MartyMurray]

Marty, can you clarify a little further between A, and C. With A, what if consumers don't know the origin, then they could ingest the residue, right?

With C, don't we also assume that farms don't use both. If they did then we might get some residue even if they used organic pesticide, right?

The thing is that the whole point is "one need not worry about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides."

So to address A, if you don't know, then you are not "purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides." You are purchasing from an unknown farm that could be doing anything.

To address C, if you are "purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides", then you are not purchasing from farms that use both.

So A and C bring up issues that don't really exist in the scenario "purchasing from farms that use only organic pesticides."

So what is the takeaway here?

The takeaway is that a way a CR question can get you is by figuring out what you might think matters even though it does not. Yup, if you are not careful to notice that the conclusion is about farms that use only organic pesticides, you might worry about farms that use both.

The thing with CR is that things are often not going to work out if you just kind of mull a question over and go for an answer. You need to be as tight with the way you approach these questions as you are with quant questions. I see people's CR hit rates jump higher all the time, and those jumps happen without much discussion of question types or other GMAT CR stuff. What those people do to rock CR is simply do better at seeing details and tighten up the way they think. Without a careful approach and tight thinking you are doomed :twisted: no matter what else you do, and with them you are pretty much set.

[gmatdriller]

INORGANIC FRUITS: Pesticides remain for days - be careful
ORGANIC FRUITS: Pesticides disappear within a few hours- feel free to consume

So, why would the argument recommend only organic fruits?
I think the advice is based on the relative periods within which the pesticides remain
on the fruits - that the organic fruits are safe cos the pesticides are not traceable on the surface.

organic fruits surface remain free of pesticides within a shorter period, THEREFORE feel free about ingesting pesticides when purchasing from ONLY organic sources.

"organic" vs "inorganic" is not an issue at stake.

Further, negate both choices and you will see clearly why the OA is indeed the best choice.
D negated suggests that the fruits are contaminated; people would be ingesting "poison"; and the conclusion is void.

This is my understanding.