In the Netherlands, a recent study conducted by scientists reveals

Question

In the Netherlands, a recent study conducted by scientists reveals that cloned cows produce greater volumes of milk than do naturally born cow. There is a strong reaction to this study by the milk products industry. Many businesses are now looking to use cloned cows instead of natural cows. Doing so will be greatly beneficial to milk products businesses because of the additional volume of milk generated.

Each of the following, if true, would weaken the argument EXCEPT:

A- The cost of maintaining a cloned cow is three times the cost of maintaining a naturally born cow.

B- The quality of milk by cloned cows is not suitable to create cheese, the most commonly sold milk product in the Netherlands.

C- The offspring through cloned cows are much weaker and will go on to have much lower biological capabilities than the natural cows.

D- The government in the Netherlands may not approve mass-scale cloning.

E- The study was done over a few weeks and the long-term milk production capabilities of cloned cows remain uncertain.

Source: Experts' Global.

SushiVoyage · Accepted Answer

Hi,
As per my understanding of the argument, we are focusing on  cloning  the cows. Don't you think if we can clone the cows, the capability of the offspring becomes less relevant? I mean, we can get the greater volume of milk from the cloned cows, why worry about the offspring?
That's the logic I used to arrive at this.
Does that help?

Experts, please correct me if I am wrong.

pkshankar · Answer

Option D is definitely not weakener.
Infact option D is beyond the scope of the argument.
Just because the government will not allow mass scale cloning does not imply that the businesses cannot sell the milk from cloned cows. May be the cloned cows are imported.
So D infact has no impact as it is out of scope and in my opinion must be the answer.
Option C seems like a weakener as it suggests that the offsprings of cloned cows are weaker and they might possibly produce less milk. But again does weaker cows mean less milk ? We really don't know. And it talks about biological capabilities, and we really don't know how that relates to the milk business.
If I had to pick 1, I would have gone ahead and picked D as the answer

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gmatdordie · Answer

In the Netherlands, a recent study conducted by scientists reveals that cloned cows produce greater volumes of milk than do naturally born cow. There is a strong reaction to this study by the milk products industry. Many businesses are now looking to use cloned cows instead of natural cows. Doing so will be greatly beneficial to milk products businesses because of the additional volume of milk generated.

Each of the following, if true, would weaken the argument EXCEPT:

A- The cost of maintaining a cloned cow is three times the cost of maintaining a naturally born cow.

B- The quality of milk by cloned cows is not suitable to create cheese, the most commonly sold milk product in the Netherlands.

C- The offspring through cloned cows are much weaker and will go on to have much lower biological capabilities than the natural cows.

D- The government in the Netherlands may not approve mass-scale cloning.

E- The study was done over a few weeks and the long-term milk production capabilities of cloned cows remain uncertain.

OA : C
A-clearly weakens 
B- weakens 
C is tricky here but correct answer, 
D-weakens the argument
can anyone explain why E is incorrect here

SushiVoyage · Answer

Hi,
 If you read option E, you can see that the study period was relatively short and it might be too soon to comment on the long term milk production capabilities of these cloned cows. They are producing greater volumes at the moment, but we can't be sure that it will be the case in the longer run. Therefore, the plan might not be sustainable and hence, this statement weakens the argument.

Hope that helps.

vasuca10 · Answer

ridhi9jain

Hi ridhi
I am not able to understand how is answer choice C not a weakener?
Can you please explain ?
If offsprings through cloned cows are weaker and will have lower biological capabilities, there is a possibility that those offsprings may not be able to produce more volume of milk than regular cow....Isnt it?
So in a way isnt Option C a weakener answer choice?

vasuca10 · Answer

ridhi9jain Yes it helped indeed....Thanks

athimba · Answer

A- The cost of maintaining a cloned cow is three times the cost of maintaining a naturally born cow..... if cost of maintaining a cloned cow s high, then the financial benefit mentioned in the argument will take a hit and thus it weakens the argument.
 
B- The quality of milk by cloned cows is not suitable to create cheese, the most commonly sold milk product in the Netherlands...... again it weakens the argument....if quality s not good, people will not prefer milk by cloned cows.
 
C- The offspring through cloned cows are much weaker and will go on to have much lower biological capabilities than the natural cows. ... This statement mentioned here says about the biological aspect of offsprings of cloned cows and therefore slightly out of scope....we are not here to find strengthen question. Just find an option that doesnt weaken the argument or is neutral

D- The government in the Netherlands may not approve mass-scale cloning....  Weakens the argument .

E- The study was done over a few weeks and the long-term milk production capabilities of cloned cows remain uncertain...... If the milk production capability of the cloned cows remain uncertain for a long period of time, the financial benefit mentioned in the argument may not frutify and thus this statement weakens the argument

+1 for C

adstudy · Answer

Question Stem says,

1. Netherlands had a recent study where it was found that cloned cows produced  GREATER VOLUMES of MILK  than do naturally born cow. 
(My thought process starts on this line with - only greater volume mentioned, quality not mentioned here. Thought can be used )

2. Reaction by the Milk Industry was positive and strong. Many businesses are  NOW LOOKING  to use cloned cows instead of natural cows. 
(My thought process starts on the bold part. "Now Looking" means that they are weighing their options on this for going forward. Must be a very big step. Obviously have to look at budget and feasibility of Plan. Again this thought can be used.)

3. Conclusion as per author (Last Line of Stem) - If they go ahead with their  PLANS OF A SWITCH  from natural cows to cloned cows, they will  BENEFIT BECAUSE  of the  GREATER VOLUME GENERATED .

Next Moving to options and finding option that is  NOT A WEAKENER

Whoa !!. 
Three times the cost ???. 
Definitely a weakener because if a company starts production and their maintenance costs all of a sudden become higher than their profits. That is a big NO.
 Hence definitely a weakener.

Hey If you don't have quality in your product (that too that sells the most) how are you gonna market and sell it.
 Hence definitely a weakener.

Hmm... What is the scope of biological capabilities here ? Do we really have to consider this much into the future ? 
Cannot assume so much here. Will keep this option for consideration as it
 Does not look like a definite weakener

If government does not approve. How to move forward on our plan. If no plan execution, No profits.
 Hence definitely a weakener.

This option makes the study look like a small fraction of what companies are expecting as research before switching completely, production using natural cows to cloned cows. If companies not satisfied with research. They will not move forward with the plan as the plan, to start with, will most probably be cost intensive.
 Hence definitely a weakener.

Hence from the above options, only C seems not weaken the conclusion.

SonalSinha803 · Answer

Great question...imo C.

E weakens the argument because it says that in a study that was conducted a week ago, it was found that the milk production of a cloned cow remains uncertain. So if there is uncertainty in the volume of milk production, then the argument that businesses want to use cloned cow for increased volumes stands uncertain.
Thus, the argument is considerably weakened.

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pavle97 · Answer

How does D weaken the argument exactly? The stated argument is "Doing so will be greatly beneficial to milk products businesses because of the additional volume of milk generated. ". So, how does the government approval affect it, since it does not attack the causal relationship, which in this case should be cloning cows --> great benefits, if I am not mistaken?

IshanVirdhi · Answer

D doesn't weaken at all. stimulus states that businesses if they do so would be benefited. D states that business MIGHT not be able to do so. But had they been able to do so, they would have been beneficial.

C - can be arguably said to weaken the stimulus. Though, benefits need to be only tracked for  milk products , if the offspring also contributed to dairy products production, then this can be a weakener.

Don't think that this is a very good question.

nipunjain1904 · Answer

In the Netherlands, a recent study conducted by scientists reveals that cloned cows produce greater volumes of milk than do naturally born cow. There is a strong reaction to this study by the milk products industry. Many businesses are now looking to use cloned cows instead of natural cows. Doing so will be greatly beneficial to milk products businesses because of the additional volume of milk generated.

Each of the following, if true, would weaken the argument EXCEPT:

A- The cost of maintaining a cloned cow is three times the cost of maintaining a naturally born cow.

B- The quality of milk by cloned cows is not suitable to create cheese, the most commonly sold milk product in the Netherlands.

C- The offspring through cloned cows are much weaker and will go on to have much lower biological capabilities than the natural cows.

D- The government in the Netherlands may not approve mass-scale cloning.

E- The study was done over a few weeks and the long-term milk production capabilities of cloned cows remain uncertain.

Option C is correct

cycaroline47 · Answer

Offspring = naturally born = no longer cloned!

Vibhav10 · Answer

the conclusion is - DOING SO will be beneficial to the milk industry
emphasis on  doing so .....
the govt may not approve of the plan is not a weakener but merely says that the plan may not get initiated at all ,we cannot say that the plan will not be beneficial if its implemented
C is a weakener - it certainly and clearly states that offsprings are weaker and therefore the plan is only beneficial in the short term and thus this plan WILL NOT be beneficial
maybe iam wrong and would be glad if someone could confirm if iam correct or wrong , thanks
ill go with D

Vibhav10 · Answer

the conclusion is - doing so will be beneficial,
emphasis on doing so....
option D is not a weakener as it says the govt MAY NOT implement this
our concern is not to see if the plan is implemented but to see if its implented, will it be beneficial?
option C - clearly states that the offsprings are weaker and therefore the plan is only beneficial in the short term
can you please guide me ?if iam wrong
thanks

Vibhav10 · Answer

the conclusion is - DOING SO will be beneficial to the milk industry
emphasis on doing so.....
the govt may not approve of the plan is not a weakener but merely says that the plan may not get initiated at all ,we cannot say that the plan will not be beneficial if its implemented
C is a weakener - it certainly and clearly states that offsprings are weaker and therefore the plan is only beneficial in the short term and thus this plan WILL NOT be beneficial
maybe iam wrong and would be glad if someone could confirm if iam correct or wrong , thanks

adstudy · Answer

Hi Vibhav10 , For your part concerning option D, let us take the below two sentences from the prompt - Many businesses are now looking to use cloned cows instead of natural cows. Doing so will be greatly beneficial to milk products businesses because of the additional volume of milk generated. In this prompt, if you notice, businesses want to use cloned cows and doing this will make the milk products businesses beneficial. Why ?? --> Because their would be additional volume of milk generated. Now the assumption between these two lines is that the additional milk generated will only come when cloned cows are taken into account. With natural cows no such addition in volume is expected. Now Option D says, "The government in the Netherlands may not approve mass-scale cloning." For your understanding, lets take it in an elaborated manner. This disapproval leads to two things - 1. There will absolutely NO cloning of cows 2. There will be VERY LESS cloning of cows, depending on their definition of mass-scale Taking both the cases in consideration, we can, at max, expect the new quantity of production of milk to be meagrely above the current volume. This may in turn not be beneficial at all to the businesses considering the overheads and even if beneficial, it will be very much lower than expected. Also, if we discuss in terms of CR jargons

, we can say the assumption that we deduced above is kind of neccessary assumption for the two sentences to be connected to each other. By saying that govt. will not approve mass-scale cloning we are removing or destroying that assumption and hence the conclusion of this part of the prompt will not stand as we know from our CR knowledge that to weaken a conclusion we need to target its assumption. Hope this will help in clarifying why I did not mark 'D' while answering

cp2020 · Answer

why the option d is incorrent.option c is also weaken the argument.

MPRS22 · Answer

Careful guys. The argument is not saying it will be beneficial for farmers in the Netherlands, but it will be beneficial in general. Hence, even if D is true it doesn't matter

VeritasKarishma

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