Despite improvements in treatment for asthma, the death rate from this disease has doubled during the past decade fro...

Mehran on August 19, 2018

Hi @EmilyMarieMenendez, thanks for your post. A is not right here. The correct answer is E.

This is a Strengthen With Necessary premise question. Let's first assess the stimulus, which initially gives two possible explanations for the doubling of the asthma death rate: (1) the recording of deaths has become more widespread and accurate, and (2) there has been an increase in urban pollution.

But then the stimulus says, well, the asthma death rate has increased even in places with "longstanding, comprehensive medical records," and "with little or no urban pollution," so it comes up with a third cause: the bronchial inhalers.

In doing so, the argument assumes that there are no other possible causes. This is what answer choice (E) states. If you negate E - if "increased urban pollution, improved recording of asthma deaths, and the use of bronchial inhalers are *not necessarily* the only possible explanations of the increased death rate due to asthma," then the argument in the stimulus falls apart.

Hope this helps! Please let us know if you have any additional questions.