Radon gas exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer

Question

Radon gas exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer and the leading cause is the carcinogens found in Tobacco.
Although radon gas exposure causes fewer deaths than Tobacco , it is imperative to consider it more dangerous because 
the risk of radon gas seeping under a house varies from lot to lot and region and is unpredictable. Moreover , although radon test kits
are available in most hardware shops , such kits can detect radon gas exposure only when it is higher than 6 pCi/L,
which is higher than the exposure limit of 4 pCi/L set by the Safety and Health Administration.

which of the following statements , if true , would most strengthen the argument presented above  ?

A) Carcinogens in Tobacco causes deaths by way of secondary smoking which is not measurable.

B) The Symptoms of lung cancer due to radon exposure takes longer to manifest themselves.

C) While fewer people die of lung cancer caused by radon gas exposure , more people become deformed.

D) Radon exposure also leads to kidney failure and heart attacks.

E) Exposure of radon cannot be controlled by individuals because radon can easily penetrate most building materials.

source : 4Gmat

kanigmat011 · Answer

E it is
all other options seems to be vague

Shree9975 · Answer

kanigmat011 :

Can you help me in discarding all incorrect answer choices.
I am not able to figure out the conclusion also??

Arshavin23 · Answer

Hey, I'm not Kanigmat011, but I can help ou out all the same. Just 1 word of advice:

This is a pretty piss poor question. Not in terms of an arguments, but the answer choices it provides. I'm not even sure E truly strengthens the argument. (thats not to say that A, B, C or D do, because none of them dont...but I think the person who created the Answer choice for E was focusing too much on making an abstract-sounding answer choice, and didnt do a good job or making an aswer choice that actually "strengthened the argument"

Now that being said, this argument is actually pretty simple

P1: Radon gas varies unpredicatably in various regions/locales
P2: You can only detect Radon with kits when it over 6....(etc) - i put etc because the actually scientific units are important to grasp the flaw in argument related to this stimulus

C: Radon gas more dangerous than tobacco

Now, there are 2 huge gaps/flaws here. 
1) It's assuming that Tobacco levels dont vary unpredictably in various regions/locales
2) It assuming that being not being able to detect Radon gases at a level less than 6 is a BAD thing.

So to strengthen an argument, you need to find the flaw(s) and pick the AC that addresses the flaw and shores it up. So lets dive down into the answer choices

A) This would weaken the argument. It actually hits on our 1st flaw but it doesnt stregthen the case3 for Radon being more dangerous. Eliminate
B)This one is VERY difficult. But you have to remember our flaws that we found. It seems like this AC doesnt touch on any of the flaws/gaps we found so I dont like it, but I'll keep it around on 1st pass, because you never know sometimes. 
C) This has NOTHING to do with our flaws so we have to throw it out
D) Again, nothing to do with our flaws, we have to remove this AC as well
E) hmm, I dont like this answer, but it directly hits on the exposure of Radon and that makes me think its what the "test" wants

I review B & E on my 2nd pass, and what I see is that the both are VERY POOR answer choices for a strengthener. The reason being is that they require jumps that involve additional assumptions (which on a well formulated question on the GMAT you rarely (if ever) will have to do). But Ive already address this is a **** question, so i'll digress

I pick E for one reason and 1 reason only. It DIRECTLY hits one of the gaps we have discussed, while B does not. B is wayy too open, and there is no connection between longer to manifest and not being able to find at 6 units being bad for you. You just have to assume too much. However with E, it directly hits on the fact that exposure is inevitable, which is somewhat (very weakly connected to our flaw). So you pick E

Basically, the only way to strengthen/weaken an argument is to strengthen/weaken its assumptions. B isnt related to an assumption while E is.

dina98 · Answer

I think the argument is stressing that Radon gas exposure is more imperative because it is not effectively measurable. E follows this line of thinking..

VerbalBot · Answer

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Radon gas exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer

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Radon gas exposure is the second leading cause of lung cancer

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