| Quote: |
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:
A The high quality of hospitals in the United States is not a factor affecting the public’s vulnerability to infectious disease.
B Whether or not the critics are disloyal has no bearing on whether or not they are wrong.
C The Europeans that the official cited are a demographically narrow sample, overwhelmingly composed of wealthy males over the age of fifty.
D 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.
E 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.
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The explaination provided is
The official's conclusion is that people who claim that the U.S. is more vulnerable than other nations because of the country's lack of a national vaccine laboratory are disloyal and incorrect. His basis for that conclusion is that the U.S. has generally long life span and low infant mortality relative to all UN countries. Moreover, he cites the high quality of American hospitals, and he adds that many people he knows from around the world come to the U.S. for medical care. We are asked to find the choice that does NOT point out a weakness or potential weakness in the official's argument.
(A) CORRECT. This choice states that the high quality of hospitals is not a factor affecting the public's vulnerability to infectious disease. However, the quality of hospitals very arguably does affect how vulnerable the public is to such disease.
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Where does this say this in the argument above ? There is no indication to draw a relationship between the vulnerability and the quality of hospitals.
The premise is that the high quality of hospitals resulted in Europeans coming to get the treatement.
(A) in fact is a weakness with the argument. The official is off on a tangent and is disassociting from the original argument.
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