cr-In response to expressions of public concern

[kartik1979]

In response to expressions of public concern, the spokesperson for a manufacturer of insecticides asserts that there is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way. This testimony, if true, might be a substantial reason for believing that the recommended uses of insecticides were harmless to humans, if which of the following were also true?
A. Evidence of the harmful effects this insecticide would almost certainly have been discovered after three decades of use.
B. The insecticides in question meet all of the recently adopted industry standards for safety.
C. No increased incidence of birth defects has been traced to the use of these insecticides.
D. The vast majority of users of these insecticides are federal agencies, and these agencies carefully monitor
the application of these insecticides.
E. The spokesperson for the insecticide manufacturer is speaking sincerely.

The ans given is A i selected D , Is ans A right? (Source 800 tests)

[RonPurewal]

In response to expressions of public concern, the spokesperson for a manufacturer of insecticides asserts that there is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way. This testimony, if true, might be a substantial reason for believing that the recommended uses of insecticides were harmless to humans, if which of the following were also true?
A. Evidence of the harmful effects this insecticide would almost certainly have been discovered after three decades of use.
B. The insecticides in question meet all of the recently adopted industry standards for safety.
C. No increased incidence of birth defects has been traced to the use of these insecticides.
D. The vast majority of users of these insecticides are federal agencies, and these agencies carefully monitor
the application of these insecticides.
E. The spokesperson for the insecticide manufacturer is speaking sincerely.

The ans given is A i selected D , Is ans A right? (Source 800 tests)

eh.
i don't really like any of these answer choices.

(a) is the best of them, but the "three decades" part is problematic (since there's nothing in the passage to support the idea that we actually have three decades' worth of evidence).
without that part, (a) would be a pretty solid answer choice.

(d) is irrelevant, because the spokesperson is only speaking about the recommended use of the pesticides. therefore, it can already be assumed that we're talking about carefully monitored use.

still... ugly problem.

[rubicon]

In response to expressions of public concern, the spokesperson for a manufacturer of insecticides asserts that there is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way. This testimony, if true, might be a substantial reason for believing that the recommended uses of insecticides were harmless to humans, if which of the following were also true?
A. Evidence of the harmful effects this insecticide would almost certainly have been discovered after three decades of use.
B. The insecticides in question meet all of the recently adopted industry standards for safety.
C. No increased incidence of birth defects has been traced to the use of these insecticides.
D. The vast majority of users of these insecticides are federal agencies, and these agencies carefully monitor
the application of these insecticides.
E. The spokesperson for the insecticide manufacturer is speaking sincerely.

The ans given is A i selected D , Is ans A right? (Source 800 tests)

eh.
i don't really like any of these answer choices.

(a) is the best of them, but the "three decades" part is problematic (since there's nothing in the passage to support the idea that we actually have three decades' worth of evidence).
without that part, (a) would be a pretty solid answer choice.

(d) is irrelevant, because the spokesperson is only speaking about the recommended use of the pesticides. therefore, it can already be assumed that we're talking about carefully monitored use.

still... ugly problem.

I feel there is a gap in the argument, the company spokesperson says:

"There is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way"

The argument not where states that the products are used in the recommended ways, hence an argument stating that teh pesticides are used in the recommended ways monitored by the agency, would help strengthen the claim that the pesticides are not harmful to humans

Hence D should be the right answer, please correct me here if I am wrong.

[Willy]

"There is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way"

no, the whole argument is based on 'when used in the recommended way'

company spokesperson is saying,

There is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way

if we assume there is a gap as stated by you, argument doesn't hold true. Argument is valid only if their products are used in the recommended way and we can't invalid the given statements.

in case I am wrong, please correct me.

[rubicon]

"There is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way"

no, the whole argument is based on 'when used in the recommended way'

company spokesperson is saying,

There is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way

if we assume there is a gap as stated by you, argument doesn't hold true. Argument is valid only if their products are used in the recommended way and we can't invalid the given statements.

in case I am wrong, please correct me.

I am not clear, can you please try to explain again

[ramakrishna.doppalapoodi]

Staff,

Question ask us to strengthen ?
So, we can pull up some answer choice, which can bring some evidence . Answer can be D, right ?

[Willy]

rubicon, I am not sure whether I can explain it in better way. :)
So, let's wait for MGMAT staff to reply on this.

[jlucero]

Almost any GMAT argument will have more than one assumption and this question definitely has many assumptions, any of which we could try to make true in order to strengthen the argument. That said, here's the conclusion:

there is no evidence that any of their products causes health problems in human beings when used in the recommended way

If the conclusion is that there are no health problems WHEN USED IN THE RECOMMENDED WAY, you don't need to prove anything about the product when used in the non-recommended way. If I were to say my phone works well when I don't drop it off a cliff, you don't need to strengthen my argument by saying it also works well when I do drop it off a cliff. That's why Ron (and Willy) mentioned D as irrelevant.