PrepTest 155, Section 4, Question 16
In an effort to boost milk production, some(86 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AConsumer groups have(9 more words not shown)
- BMilk from BST-treated(12 more words not shown)
- CThere is no(9 more words not shown)
- DMilk from BST-treated(18 more words not shown)
- EThe only threat(14 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
The same nutritional value doesn't necessarily mean the same safety. Milk could provide the same nutrients while containing something else that causes a problem.
Here we're given a particular concern. BST-treated cows face a greater risk of infection and are therefore more likely to receive antibiotics. Those antibiotics may appear in their milk, and high levels may harm humans. That doesn't say every treated cow produces harmful milk. We would still want to know whether the antibiotics reach the concerning level in a particular batch.
Then we learn that milk from both treated and untreated cows is regularly screened. That sounds reassuring: checking for antibiotics is a way to address the problem we've just identified. My initial reaction is that the screening could make this less of a concern than it first appeared.
What we’re looking for
But let's keep that reassurance limited. Regular screening and successful screening aren't automatically the same, and we haven't examined every possible concern about BST. The most-supported answer should explain the role of screening without claiming that all objections have disappeared.
Working the answers
- A
No legitimate reasons at all? We have only discussed a particular concern about antibiotics in milk. Consumer groups could have other concerns, such as the environmental effects of a practice. We aren't told whether such effects exist here, but nothing in the passage rules out every other ground for objection. A goes well beyond the information supplied.
- B
We haven't established equal safety. The treated cows have a greater chance of needing antibiotics, and the milk is screened. But we aren't told that the screening always succeeds or that all other safety considerations are identical. The reassuring fact that a check occurs doesn't justify this broad comparison.
- C
The farmers are using BST in an effort to increase milk production. That gives us a potential advantage motivating its use, even though this passage doesn't quantify whether the effort succeeds. Nothing here establishes that BST has no advantage whatsoever. Concerns about a practice's risks don't show that it offers no benefits.
- DCorrect
Before presuming the milk safe, we need the stated antibiotic concern successfully addressed. The treated cows are more likely to be given antibiotics, those antibiotics may get into the milk, and high levels may be harmful. Successful screening for those levels is therefore a safeguard the safety presumption needs. D doesn't say screening proves the absence of every conceivable risk; it says we can't simply skip this one.
- E
Identifying one possible threat doesn't establish that it is the only threat. The passage concentrates on antibiotics, but it doesn't give us a complete inventory of everything that could matter to milk safety. We shouldn't turn the topic discussed into a claim that all other risks are impossible.
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