PrepTest 158, Section 4, Question 24
Consumer advocate: Some agricultural crops are now being(63 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(9 more words not shown)
- AAs far as(27 more words not shown)
- BIf pollen from(33 more words not shown)
- CThe genetically engineered(20 more words not shown)
- DIn crops genetically(25 more words not shown)
- EIf pollen from(26 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
A plant producing a drug isn't automatically food containing that drug. What if the drug is in the leaves, while people eat only the fruit?
The advocate describes a possible route from a pharmaceutical crop to an ordinary crop: drifting pollen could fertilize the ordinary plants and turn them into drug-producing plants. We should accept that stated possibility. We don't need to settle the biology ourselves. The next step is the one to question: would the drug then reach the part of the plant that enters the food supply?
What we’re looking for
For the weaken question, I'd look for something breaking the connection between the altered crop and drugs in our food. The leaves-versus-fruit possibility is one way.
Working the answers
- A
Harmless isn't the same as absent. These drugs could pose no danger to public health and still end up in the food supply. The advocate's stated conclusion is about their presence there, so reassuring us about their effects doesn't challenge that claim.
- B
If the pollen is kept out, it can't fertilize the ordinary crops. But is it kept out? B doesn't tell us. Growing the pharmaceutical plants in a setup that actually prevented escape might address the concern; merely describing what would follow from successful prevention leaves the original possibility open.
- C
A small part of the food supply is still part of the food supply. The advocate doesn't claim that pharmaceuticals will affect the biggest crops or most of what we eat. Even a crop making up 1 percent rather than 90 percent could provide a route for drugs to enter food.
- DCorrect
This identifies the missing separation within the plant. The drug isn't in any part used for food in ordinary crops of that species. That supports our leaves-versus-fruit idea: becoming a drug-producing plant needn't make the harvested food contain the drug.
The answer lets the pollen mechanism remain possible while weakening the inference about the food supply. The advocate's route to contamination depends on drug production reaching something people eat, and D gives us a reason to doubt that step.
- E
Being able to identify an altered crop doesn't mean scientists will identify it, or that it will be kept out of the food supply. A detection method could exist without being used on every relevant field. E doesn't establish the prevention needed to undercut the advocate's concern.
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