Bed linen manufacturers recently released a claim that bed-linen can

Question

Bed linen manufacturers recently released a claim that bed-linen can become contaminated with harmful micro-organisms whenever a sick person sleeps on the linen. For that reason, people should replace their bed linen immediately after it’s been used by an unwell person.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the statement above?

A. The manufacturers could not discover how long the contamination lasted.

B. The manufacturers failed to investigate contamination of bed linen by other outside sources.

C. The manufacturers found that among people who used contaminated bed linen, the incidence of diseases was higher than among people who used uncontaminated bed linen.

D. The manufacturers found that people who had no history of disease were as likely to have contaminated bed linen as were people who had chronic health problems.

E. Manufacturers discovered that washing the contaminated sheets in hot water rids them of all harmful micro-organisms.

saurabh35 · Accepted Answer

I am still a little confused.
Replacing the bed linen means what?

I could also mean that replace it with a new one and wash the old one. 
Why are we taking replace as buying another one?

KarishmaB · Answer

The question is certainly ambiguous. 'Replace' to me means remove this one from the bed and put in another set. It has nothing to do with 'new' or 'old'. What we should do with this set is not specified. Think of a hotel/hospital. 
'Replace' means 'to take the place of', 'to provide a substitute'. Often, the connotation is 'throw this one and get a new one' e.g. 'replace a broken toy' but that is not apparent here.
It should be specified clearly for the question to make sense.

blueseas · Answer

E.

CONCLUSION :people  should replace  their bed linen immediately after it’s been used by an unwell person
We have to weken this that we dont need to replace this.
clearly option E does this job.
if you clean with hot water ...harmful microorganisms are finished and hence we can use the same without replacing.

a) The manufacturers could not discover how long the contamination lasted. 
  WRONG.  
out of scope.

b) The manufacturers failed to investigate contamination of bed linen by other outside sources. 
  WRONG.  
out of scope
 
c) The manufacturers found that among people who used contaminated bed linen, the incidence of diseases was higher than among people who used uncontaminated bed linen.
  WRONG.   
this one  strengthens .

d) The manufacturers found that people who had no history of disease were as likely to have contaminated bed linen as were people who had chronic health problems. 
  WRONG.  
still the argument holds because we are not sure that bed linen of healthy people are contaminated with what?...we are worried about the contamination about harmful disease.. ...contamination can be of less harmful disease too..==>doesnt weakens

e) Manufacturers discovered that washing the contaminated sheets in hot water rids them of all harmful micro-organisms 
  WEAKENS

Hence E

ozhan · Answer

IMO E.

Since the manufacturers claim that the sheets have to be "replaced immediately", E offers another solution(just wash the sheets in hot water and continue using them) that doesn't require replacement.

I hope this helps

nikhiil · Answer

Answer is E:

A, B, D are out of scope.

C strengthens the argument. So we are left with E.

nikhiil · Answer

Well replacing means substitute. Use new one in place of old one.

So Yes, that's the point, we not need to replace them, as we can wash them and remove the harmful substances, Answer choice E.

rskanumuri · Answer

Replacing is not equal to changing the linen. Most of us use their interchangeably, hence this confusion. Replacing means disposing the existing one and buying a new one. Hence E, takes away the reason for "Replacing" the linen.

TirthankarP · Answer

Yes I agree with Karishma. 
Just think in this way .. We have 2 bed-linens. One was used for a sick person and after using it, we removed it and put the 2nd bed-linen. I washed the 1st bed-linen that was used for that sick person and again after few days I replace the 2nd bed-linen with the 1st one which has now been washed.

ankur1901 · Answer

i chose E, but agree with others. Can the moderator correct this?

Andrew986 · Answer

should use anti microbial treated sheets:

mohnish104 · Answer

Unjustifiable answer.... there is a lot of ambiguity in the word "Replace". This question needs to be taken down.

b2bt · Answer

Hopefully GMAT doesn't create such ambiguous questions.

JusTLucK04 · Answer

Although replacement is ambiguous here.. D- We can say that some else might also have slept on the linen :sex

and hence it is not necessary for the patient to have a history of any disease E- No need to replace as hot water removes it all.. Quite logical that replacement is buying a new blanket..if you want to answer the question...else there would be two contenders to this question

ssriva2 · Answer

tricky one.
"replace" is the key
got it wrong

rhine29388 · Answer

options A,B and D are out of scope options
option C is actually strengthening the conclusion
option E is the the weakener

LIBERTYRodP · Answer

EASY

Pre-thinking: The conclusion has " Should ". This is similar to other cases where the conclusion has the helping verb " must ". In this cases we have to take both words (should and must) as extreme words. Simply put,   the author is implying that his recommendation is "the only way" to solve a problem or reach a goal.  In this type of arguments, we can weaken the conclusion by showing that there's an alternative way to reach the goal.

Bed linen manufacturers recently released a claim that bed-linen can become contaminated with harmful micro-organisms whenever a sick person sleeps on the linen. For that reason, people should replace their bed linen immediately after it’s been used by an unwell person.

Which of the following, if true, would most weaken the statement above?

A. The manufacturers could not discover how long the contamination lasted.  ------ Out of scope, it does not attack the recommendation.

B. The manufacturers failed to investigate contamination of bed linen by other outside sources.  -------- It does not give us evidence against changing the linen.

C. The manufacturers found that among people who used contaminated bed linen, the incidence of diseases was higher than among people who used uncontaminated bed linen.   --------- Out of scope.

D. The manufacturers found that people who had no history of disease were as likely to have contaminated bed linen as were people who had chronic health problems.   ---------- It does not give us evidence against changing the linen.

E. Manufacturers discovered that washing the contaminated sheets in hot water rids them of all harmful micro-organisms.   --------  CORRECT. This answer indicates that there is an alternative way to avoid contamination.

Oppenheimer1945 · Answer

One of the worst questions of CR in this forum.

Bed linen manufacturers recently released a claim that bed-linen can

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Bed linen manufacturers recently released a claim that bed-linen can

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