For thousands of years, smallpox epidemics ravaged populations, often

Conclusion - accidental or malicious release of that viral material in the near future could easily devastate the United States economically in the near term by killing the most productive members of society and disfiguring countless others.

Pre-thinking - If the smallpox is not able to kill the most productive members of US economy then conclusion fails.

A. “Productive” includes activities that do not involve physical strength.
Out of scope.

B. Businesses, such as the entertainment industry, that employ many young and attractive people comprise a small percentage of the nation’s economic productivity.
Out of scope.
C. The vast majority of the nation’s economic productivity stems from the activities of members of the populous generation born in the middle of the 20th century, post- World War II
Since majority of productive members are born in middle of 20th century (1950's) and US stopped small pox vaccine in 1970,so productive members are vaccinated and they will not die incase of a small pox outbreak and US economy wont won't get devasted. Conclusion breaks.

D. Some people are naturally immune to smallpox.
Stem is talking about majority of people.

E. The medical facilities in which the smallpox virus is stored were designed to be impermeable by unauthorized personnel and are heavily guarded.
It doesn't matter where the virus is stored , the conclusion talks about a hypothetical situation where any accidental release of small pox will bring havoc in US

What happens if this question was written on 2020, then people born after 1970 would top ages of 50 year old and younger, those could be considered productive members of society.
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Posting the official solution by MGMAT for better understanding for others:

(1) Identify the Question
Seriously weakens in the question stem identifies this question as a Weaken the Argument question.



(2) Deconstruct the Argument

Here is one possible way to map the argument.

S. was once a scourge.

S. was eliminated in public but stores of the virus remain.

Newborn vaccinations discontinued ~1970.

© if S returned à US would suffer economically



(3) State the Goal
The correct choice will make it less likely that a release of the smallpox virus would economically devastate the United States.



(4) Work From Wrong to Right


(A) No matter how productivity is defined, the loss of the most productive people would still cause devastation.

(B) This choice does not provide information about the workforce composition of the majority of the United States economy. It establishes that some small industries would be strongly impacted, but does not discuss how the other, larger industries might be affected, so economic devastation could still occur.

(C) CORRECT. Members of that generation were vaccinated as newborns (pre-1970); if they are responsible for most of the economic productivity, the country would not be economically devastated even if the disease were released.

(D) Some means at least one. If some insignificant number were immune, economic devastation could still occur.

(E) The design of these facilities does not mean that they are in fact impermeable to attack, and accidental release remains a possibility. Additionally, the conclusion is about the devastation if a release of smallpox occurs, not a claim about how likely such a release might be.

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