Bevex, an artificial sweetener used only in soft drinks, is carcinogenic for mice, but only when it is consumed in very large quantities. To ingest an amount of Bevex equivalent to the amount fed to the mice in the relevant studies, a person would have to drink 25 cans of Bevex-sweetened soft drinks per day. For that reason, Bevex is in fact safe for people.

For which of the following assumptions does the argument that Bevex is safe for people depend?

(A)

Cancer from carcinogenic substances develops more slowly in mice than it does in people.

(B)

If all food additives that are currently used in foods were tested, some would be found to be carcinogenic for mice.

(C)

People drink fewer than 25 cans of Bevex-sweetened soda per day.

(D)

People can obtain important health benefits by controlling their weight through the use of artificially sweetened soft drinks.

(E)

Some of the studies done on Bevex were not relevant to the question of whether or not Bevex is carcinogenic for people.




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Hi,

I have narrowed down answer choices to (C), (D) and (E) on this question.

(C) seems too simplistic an answer, but it is logical. (D) seems a plausible assumption. (E) seems out of scope somewhat, but yet, I didn't want to eliminate it as an answer choice.

What would be the next step?

Thanks.

C, as well.

C - properly fills in the gap between the first premise and the conclusion. Stating this ensures that the conclusion is true. It eliminates any doubts (other possibilities such as drinking more than 25 cans a day). Using neagtion breaks the conclusion:
Premise 1: Bevex causes cancer in people when drinking 25 cans of it a day.
Premise 2 NEGATED: People drink AT LEAST 25 cans of Bevex a day.
Conclusion: Bevex is safe. [broken conclusion]
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D - is out of scope. The stimulus is not concerned about the health benefits per se. It only seeks to stablish a relationship between mice and people (as in apples to apples so that a proper comparison can be made)

E - This is out of scope. Stiumus talks about Bevex being carcinogenic and answer talks about other studies.

People drink fewer than 25 cans of Bevex-sweetened soda per day.

C is the best answer but it seems to be little out of scope coz it talks of Soda and not Soft drinks, now experts will say its more of a common sense.

"a person would have to drink 25 cans of Bevex-sweetened soft drinks per day"

Are they not two different things