Argument170 [OB小组]_第17次作业_oyster Gult Coast

ldongxpUID: 2311083

TOPIC: ARGUMENT170 - For the past five years, consumers in California have been willing to pay twice as much for oysters from the northeastern Atlantic Coast as for Gulf Coast oysters. This trend began shortly after harmful bacteria were found in a few raw Gulf Coast oysters. But scientists have now devised a process for killing the bacteria. Once consumers are made aware of the increased safety of Gulf Coast oysters, they are likely to be willing to pay as much for Gulf Coast as for northeastern Atlantic Coast oysters, and greater profits for Gulf Coast oyster producers will follow.
WORDS: 531          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2007-7-29

In this argument, the author concludes that the consumers will pay as much for Gulf Coast oysters as northeastern Atlantic Coast oysters and the oyster producers in Gulf Coast will gain greater profits by making the consumers aware fo the increased safety of Gulf Coast oysters since scientists have now devised a process for killing bacteria. To support this conclusion, the author points out that consumers in California have been willing to pay higher prices for oysters from northeastern Atlantic Coast than from Gulf Coast shortly after harmful bacteria were discovered in a few raw Gulf Coast oysters. The author also notes that scientists have found a process to kill bacteria. However, this argument suffers from several critical flaws and is therefore unconvincing as it stands.

First of all, the author unfairly assumes that consumers in California have been willing to pay higher prices for oysters from northeastern Atlantic Coast than from Gulf Coast due to the bacteria found in a few raw oysters in Gulf Coast. The author overlooks other factors that can lead to this result. Perhaps the oysters from northeastern Atlantic Coast are more tasteful than those from Gulf Coast leading to different prices. Or perhaps the oysters from northeastern Atlantic Coast contain more vitamin than those from Gulf Coast and are therefore more popular. Without considering and ruling out these and other possible explanations for the different prices, the author cannot make a sound assumption and make a convincing conclusion.

Secondly, the author assumes that the process for killing bacteria devised by scientists is suitable for killing bacteria in oysters in Gulf Coast. The argument does not provide evidence that the process for killing bacteria can be used to increase the safety of the oyster from Gulf Coast. It is entirely possible that this process cannot kill other types of bacteria but not the kind of bacteria in the oysters from Gulf Coast. Or perhaps the process would bring a poinsonous drug into the oysters so that it is even dangerous to eat the oysters. The author cannot substantiate this assumption without accounting for these possibilities.

Thirdly, even assuming that the author can substantiate the forgoing assumptions, the author makes an additional assumption that consumers in California willing to pay the same price for the Gulf Coast oysters as the northeastern Atlantic Coast oysters can lead to greater profits for Gulf Coast oyster producers. There are many other factors that can affect the profits. Perhaps the process for killing bacteria would increase the expense of the oysters very much so that the profits would go down. Or perhaps there are another places providing better and cheaper oysters and people would buy their oysters rather than those from Gulf Coast. In short, the author cannot hastily conclude that the oyster producers in Gulf Coast would gain greater profits without considering these and other scenarios.

In sum, this argument is unpersuasive as it stands. To bolster this conclusion, the author must provide clear evidence that the people in California are not willing to buy oysters from Gulf Coast due to the harmful bacteria and the process for killing bacteria can help kill the bacteria in oysters in Gulf Coast. To better assess this conclusion, more information about the process for killing bacteria and more detail about the oysters in Gulf Coast are needed.