argument188 0906G 永不言弃互改小组 第四次作业 by 7#stgzhao

stgzhaoUID: 2583165

TOPIC: ARGUMENT188 - A new report suggests that men and women experience pain very differently from one another, and that doctors should consider these differences when prescribing pain medications. When researchers administered the same dosage of kappa opioids-a painkiller-to 28 men and 20 women who were having their wisdom teeth extracted, the women reported feeling much less pain than the men, and the easing of pain lasted considerably longer in women. This research suggests that kappa opioids should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required, whereas men should be given other kinds of pain medication. In addition, researchers should reevaluate the effects of all medications on men versus women.
WORDS: 518          TIME: 00:43:36          DATE: 2009-2-9 0:01:52

1.实验本身有问题。选取对象不知是否具有代表性。用拔牙后的疼痛代替所有疼痛值得商榷。
2.结论KO应给所有需要止痛的女性患者使用值得怀疑，是否KO具有特定的副作用是未知的。KO也可能足以缓解男性患者的疼痛，因而必须给男性患者其他种类的药也是没有根据的
3.仅就止疼药所做的工作没有理由扩展到所有种类的药物。

This argument concludes that kappa opioids (KO) should be prescribed for women but not for men and the effects of all medications on men versus women should be reevaluated. To support this conclusion the speaker takes an experiment carried on 28 men and 20 women who just had KO as a painkiller after extracted their wisdom teeth. The conclusion was draw acording to the result that women feels less pain than the men ,and the easing of pain lasted considerably longer in women. This argument logically flaws in several aspects.
To begin with, this experiment is suspectable. Whether 28 men and 20 women represent typical individuals is left for further proofs. It is entirely possible that the men may be in worse health condition than the women, which makes them less resistant of pain. Even if volunteers who take part in the experiment can represent typical individuals, the experiment still flaws in gratuitously asserting that pain caused by extracting wisdom teeth can represent all kinds of pains. Perhaps in other circumstances KO is more effective on men that men such as dealing with pain caused by fracture or gastritis. Lacking of such evidence this experiment is unpersuasive and hence the conclusion is incredible.
Even if KO is more effective on women than men, the conclusion that KO should be prescribed for women whenever pain medication is required whereas men should be given other kinds of pain medication is still unwarranted. All most all medicine has side effects, which makes them used only on certain situations. Perhaps KO cause misshapen of fetus when pregnant women take it. Under this circumstance, KO obviously should not be prescribed for women patients. It shouldn't, or do not have to be prescribed for women either when other kinds of painkillers have better efficiency. Moreover, even if KO is more effective on women than men, it is unfairly to say that men should be given other kinds of pain medication rather than KO. Perhaps KO is effective enough for men to inhibit certain kind of pain and, maybe it is the most economic way of killing pain. At these aspects I find the conclusion incredible.
Another problem with the argument is that it unfairly asserts that all medications should be reevaluated of their effects on men versus women. Nowadays thousands of medications are being sold. It is unrealistic and at great expense to reevaluate the effects of them on men versus women. Besides, I can see little reasons for us to do this job. The argument only provides evidence that men and women react differently on painkillers, if it does so, there is no reason to homogenize all medications based on this conclusion.
In sum, this argument has not convinced me that KO should be prescribed only for women and researchers should reevaluate the effects of all medications on men versus women. The study should be performed as a controlled experiment where other factors which may cause different pain feelings should remain constant. To better assess the argument I would also need to know what KO's side-effect is and how much it works on men.