For over half a century, agricultural engineers have been using radiat

Official Explanation

Questions of this sort test your ability to identify how the particular parts of an argument fit together. The good thing about these questions is that there are only two major parts of an argument to worry about—premises and conclusions. Assumptions, you will recall, are unstated, so the boldfaced portion cannot be an assumption. When attacking these questions, first break them down into premise and conclusion. This argument has the following parts:

Premise: The public is afraid of radiation and has negative associations with the word “mutant.”

Conclusion: Keeping the practice of mutating crops with radiation a secret from the public avoids controversy.

From this analysis, it is clear that the bold-faced portion of the argument is the premise. That eliminates choices A, B, and D. While choice E correctly identifies the bold-faced portion as a premise, it does not undermine the conclusion. Therefore, choice E is wrong. That leaves choice C as the best answer.

Answer: C