Between 1976 and 1985, chemical wastes were dumped into Cod Bay. Today, 3 percent of the bay's bluefin cod population...

shunhe on July 29, 2020

Hi @Shaase,

Thanks for the question! So the correct answer is listed as (C), and in this case, it’s because the correct answer is actually (C). Let’s recap the stimulus. We’re told that between 1976 and 1985, chemical wastes got dumped into Cod Bay. And now there’s a bunch of deformed fish that consumers aren’t buying anymore. So the fishing industry is trying to get financial reparations now, and their representatives are saying that since the chemicals are known to cause mutations, the mutations in the fish were the result of the dumped chemicals.

So now we’re trying to find something that DOESN’T help evaluate their claim; take note that this is an EXCEPT question. So four of these questions will help evaluate the claim, and one won’t.

Now let’s take a look at (C), which asks if the consumption of the deformed bluefin cod caused health problems in the people who ate them. Well, the representatives of the fishing industry just care about why the fish are mutated in the first place, they don’t necessarily care about what happens afterwards. Whether or not the answer to this question is yes or no, the representatives don’t care. So (C) doesn’t affect the argument, and so is the correct answer choice here since it doesn’t help evaluate the claim at all.

Now let’s take a look at (B), which asks for the incidence of deformed fins in bluefin cod before the chemical dumping. Well, if it was much lower, that would suggest that the chemicals might have had something to do with it. But if the percentage was always around 3%, then it would suggest that the chemicals don’t have anything to do with it. So (B) definitely helps evaluate the claims, and is the wrong answer.

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