Bunuel wrote:
Recently, many critics of the U.S. government have pointed out that this country is the only industrialized nation without a national vaccine laboratory and suggested that this lack makes the American public more vulnerable than other advanced nations to diseases such as avian flu or other flu epidemics. When asked at a press conference, a government official said these critics were disloyal and thus wrong about the public's vulnerability. To support his claim, he cited the international preeminence of American doctors and hospitals as well as the middle ranking of the United States among United Nation member nations in the health categories of infant mortality, life span, and nutrition. He also added that all of the Europeans that he knew preferred to undergo major medical treatments in the United States rather than in the socialized medical systems in place in their home countries.
All of the following are flaws in the official's logic EXCEPT:
A. The official accepts that the quality of physicians and hospitals is a major factor, albeit not the only one, affecting the public's vulnerability to disease.
B.The critics could be disloyal but not wrong.
C. The Europeans that the official cited are overwhelmingly wealthy males over the age of fifty.
D. The official relies on health statistics that are based on a complete accounting of deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by the American public from all causes, including the ten percent attributable to infectious diseases.
E. The UN health ranking that the official cited is based on an almost complete survey of the nations of the world.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The official's conclusion is that people who claim that the U.S. is more vulnerable than other nations because of the country's lack of a national vaccine laboratory are disloyal and incorrect. His basis for that conclusion is that the U.S. has prominent doctors, ranks in the middle in terms of life span, infant mortality, and nutrition, and people from around the world come to the U.S. for medical care. We are asked to find the choice that does NOT point out a flaw in the official's logic.
(A) CORRECT. This choice states that the official accepts that the quality of physicians and hospitals is a major factor, albeit not the only one, affecting the public's vulnerability to disease. This does not contradict anything in the official's argument, nor does it make light of any flaws in the official's logic.
(B) This choice highlights the official's logical jump from "disloyal" to "wrong" in the phrase "these critics are disloyal and thus wrong about the public's vulnerability." There is no connection between disloyalty and wrongness. This is a flaw.
(C) If the Europeans that the official cited are overwhelmingly wealthy men over the age of fifty, the official relied on an unrepresentative sample to justify his claim. What is true of wealthy older European men is not necessarily true of Europeans or non- Americans generally. This is a flaw.
(D) The fact the official relies on health statistics that are based on a complete accounting of deaths, injuries, and illnesses suffered by the American public from all causes, including the ten percent attributable to infectious diseases means that the official is not limiting his evidence to cases relating to vaccines. Other causes of death are not relevant to the argument. This is a flaw.
(E) If the U.N. health ranking that the official cited is based on an almost complete survey of its members, the ranking of the United States may be misleading, since it may not compare the U.S. to nations of similar economic standing. This is a flaw.