Environmentalist: The United Kingdom recently instituted a law requiring that foods containing genetically altered ingredients be labeled accordingly. Food producers, fearing that consumers would understand the labels as warnings and thus avoid their products, rushed to rid those products of genetically altered ingredients. Other countries contemplating such labeling should therefore refrain, because many crops are genetically altered to be pest resistant; loss of demand for these genetically altered crops would necessitate production alternatives, all of which are dangerous and pesticide intensive.
Which one of the following is an assumption on which the environmentalist’s argument depends?The environmentalist argues that other countries should not require labels because the UK labeling law caused producers to remove genetically altered ingredients, and the same kind of reaction elsewhere would reduce demand for pest-resistant crops.
The key assumption is that producers in other countries would react
like UK producers did.
(A) In general, people interpret labels stating that some food ingredients are genetically altered as warnings.
Wrong. The argument does not need consumers actually to interpret the labels as warnings. It only needs producers to fear that consumers will do so and react by removing the ingredients.
(B) Before the United Kingdom instituted a law requiring that foods containing genetically altered ingredients be labeled as such, almost all foods sold there contained genetically altered ingredients.
Wrong. The argument does not require almost all UK foods to have contained genetically altered ingredients.
(C) The reactions of food producers in other countries to laws requiring labeling of foods containing genetically altered ingredients are likely to be similar to the reactions of food producers in the United Kingdom.
Correct. The argument uses the UK case to warn other countries. If producers in other countries would not react similarly, then the UK example would not support the recommendation that other countries refrain from labeling.
(D) Warning labels on food products have proven to be effective in reducing consumption of those products.
Wrong. The labels are not necessarily official warning labels. The issue is producer reaction to possible consumer interpretation.
(E) Countries that institute new food labeling regulations often experience a change in consumer eating habits.
Wrong. This is too general. The argument specifically depends on producers removing genetically altered ingredients from products, not merely on some change in eating habits.
Answer: (C)