Prolonged exposure to sulfur fumes permanently damages one's sense of smell. In one important study, 100 workers from...

shunhe on April 7, 2020

Hi @isorom19,

Thanks for the question! Let’s take a look at (B). We’re looking for the answer choice that does NOT weaken the argument. The argument tells us that factories emit sulfur fumes, and the study is about finding the effect of the sulfur on the worker’s sense of smell. It’s pretty safe to assume that workers from these other occupations don’t work in environments that have similar noxious odors to the factories, and so (B) actually does weaken the argument. Why? Because (B) opens up the possibility that the factory workers actually performed poorly because they were being tested in the factories with noxious odors, as opposed to the other workers who likely weren’t being tested in those places. Thus, it might have to do with noxious odors as opposed to the workers’ senses of smell.

Hope this helps! Feel free to ask any further questions that you might have.