Petroleum, which is the primary base of synthetic fibers, is a fossil

Question

Petroleum, which is the primary base of synthetic fibers, is a fossil fuel. By contrast, cotton is a natural fiber and thus a renewable resource. Accordingly, many well-meaning consumer advocates recommend the purchase of cotton clothing as a way of lessening the use of fossil fuels.

Which of the following, if true, casts the most doubt on the validity of the consumer advocates’ position?

A) Other natural fibers are cheaper than cotton.
B) Converting factories that are currently set up to produce synthetic fibers into factories that process cotton fiber would require millions of dollars in renovations.
C) Cotton production requires the heavy use of pesticides and causes greater environmental pollution than the production of synthetic fibers.
D) Purely cotton clothing has been limited in its availability to major retail outlets.
E) More energy from fossil fuels is expended in the care for cotton clothing over its lifetime than is used in the production of synthetic fibers.

$!vakumar.m · Answer

Petroleum (fossil fuel) => synthetic fibers
Cotton => natural fiber and thus a renewable resource. 
Therefore, Consumer advocates Recommend the purchase of cotton clothing  as a way of lessening  the use of fossil fuels.
So we need to find out requirement/usage of energy/fossil fuel for synthetic fiber clothes and cotton clothes
in order to find the validity of the Consumer advocates position that we should use less fossil fuels

A) Other natural fibers are cheaper than cotton. Cost is not a factor. Irrelevant
B) Converting factories that are currently set up to produce synthetic fibers into factories that process cotton fiber would require millions of dollars in renovations. Out of scope. Incorrect
C) Cotton production requires the heavy use of pesticides and causes greater environmental pollution than the production of synthetic fibers. Pollution is also out of scope. Incorrect
D) Purely cotton clothing has been limited in its availability to major retail outlets. Irrelevant
E) More energy from fossil fuels is expended in the care for cotton clothing over its lifetime than is used in the production of synthetic fibers.
this option clearly brings out that more fossil fuel is consumed in care for cotton clothing over its lifetime compared to its consumption in production of synthetic fibers. therefore, consumer advocates recommendation is invalid. Correct

Answer: E

wadhwakaran · Answer

Petroleum, which is the primary base of synthetic fibers, is a fossil fuel. By contrast, cotton is a natural fiber. Therefore, advocates recommend the purchase of cotton clothing as a way of lessening the use of fossil fuels.

Since, the argument is asking to shift to cotton clothing as it uses less fossil fuel than synthetic clothing.

To weaken this we need to prove that production of cotton clothing requires more usage of fossil fuel than the production of synthetic clothing.

option E clearly does that

GautamKhanduja · Answer

To weaken. We need to prove that using more of cotton clothing(Which is made from natural fibers)will not reduce use of fossil fuels( at least use of fossil fuel will not be less in cotton clothing than in clothes made from synthetic fibers).

A) Other natural fibers are cheaper than cotton.
Wrong. We are not concerned about cost.

B) Converting factories that are currently set up to produce synthetic fibers into factories that process cotton fiber would require millions of dollars in renovations.
Wrong. Again we are not concerned with this.

C) Cotton production requires the heavy use of pesticides and causes greater environmental pollution than the production of synthetic fibers.
Wrong.We want to prove use of fossil fuels will not be less, not whether environmental pollution will be less.

D) Purely cotton clothing has been limited in its availability to major retail outlets.
Wrong. Availability is out of scope.

E) More energy from fossil fuels is expended in the care for cotton clothing over its lifetime than is used in the production of synthetic fibers.
Correct. This rightly says that since more energy from fossil fuels is used for care of cotton clothing than used in production of synthetic fibers, so more fossil fuels are used for cotton clothing.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Petroleum, which is the primary base of synthetic fibers, is a fossil

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Petroleum, which is the primary base of synthetic fibers, is a fossil

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