LSAT 103 – Section 1 – Question 14

LSAT 103 - Section 1 - Question 14

September 1998

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT103 S1 Q14
+LR
+Exp
Necessary assumption +NA
A
2%
160
B
92%
165
C
1%
153
D
0%
155
E
4%
153
134
142
150
 +Medium 147.884 +SubsectionMedium

The Biocarb Company wants to build a sterilization plant to treat contaminated medical waste in a city neighborhood where residents and environmental activists fear that such a facility will pollute the area. Biocarb’s president argues that the operation of the plant cannot cause pollution because the waste would be sterile after processing by the plant. He claims that after exposure for an hour to superheated steam in the autoclave, such refuse would be far cleaner than food prepared in the cleanest kitchen.

Summary
The Biocarb Company’s president concludes that a new sterilization plant will not cause pollution. Why not? Because the medical waste treated at the plant will be sterilized by exposure to superheated steam until it is cleaner than food could ever be.

Notable Assumptions
The president broadly assumes that there won’t be any potential sources of pollution from operating the plant, other than waste which has been fully sterilized. For example, there won’t be byproducts from the process of running the plant’s autoclave which could constitute pollution.
The president also assumes that the waste won’t pose a risk of pollution even after sterilization, for example if it contains plastics or heavy metals that might be harmful despite being free of pathogen contamination.

A
Environmental activists believe that waste treated with steam will not pollute.
Whether or not the president’s argument holds up doesn’t depend on what the environmental activists believe, so this is not necessary.
B
Handling of the waste before treatment in the proposed facility will not pose a threat of pollution to the area.
This falls under the broad assumption that there aren’t potential pollution risks other than the fully sterilized waste. If this were negated, and the handling of unsterilized waste posed a threat of pollution, the premises about sterilization couldn’t support the conclusion.
C
Fear of pollution is the only argument against construction of an autoclave facility for medical waste.
The argument isn’t about the overall cost-benefit of the factory, just about whether it poses a pollution risk, so the presence or absence of other arguments is irrelevant.
D
No others besides environmental activists are concerned about pollution hazards that can result from processing medical waste.
Any beliefs that people do or don’t have about the factory wouldn’t affect the president’s argument, which is about material reality, so this is not necessary either way.
E
Treatment by superheated steam represents the surest method of sterilization.
As long as the waste will reliably be sterilized, it doesn’t matter whether steam treatment is the surest method or just a very, very sure method. In other words, this isn’t necessary to assume.

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LSAT PrepTest 103 Explanations

Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

Section 2 - Logical Reasoning

Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

Section 4 - Reading Comprehension

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