1) A public health officer reported that 60 % of the children at summer school have never had the measles or chicken pox
2) Of this 60 % not one child has ever been observed to eat the cheese served in the school lunches.
3) From this he concluded that children who abstain from cheese products will protect themselves from most childhood diseases. <--
Each of the following , if true, would strenghthen the official's argument except:
a) medically speaking , whatever serves to inhibit measles and chicken pox will generally inhibit the entire spectrum of childhood diseases.
- But we're not told here it's cheese products that inhibits measles and chicken pox. A is out.
b) the observations the official carried out were extremely accurate and all those observed to abstain from cheese at school did, in fact, abstain.
- Still does not tie cheese product to inhibit most childhood disease
c)the children's eating habits are the same at school as anywhere else and those who abstain from cheese products at school do so in general.
- Same problem as above
d) recent research has pointed to a deficiency in cheese products as one of the major causes of measles and chicken pox infections.
- If it's a deficiency, then eating cheese products won't get you measles/chicken pox
e) most cheeses and cheese products harbor bacteria that are known to be causative agents for many childhood diseases, such as measles and chicken pox
- this is the answer we need. We're told there's a causative agent in cheese products for many childhood disease, so the conclusion is strengthened.
E it is.