【TRANSFORMER】_ARGU35_0810

blade134UID: 2328542

35The following appeared in the summary of a study onheadaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.

"Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, amedicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich insalicylates, for the past several decades food-processing companies have alsobeen adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercialuse of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in theaverage number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study.Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also beused as flavor additives for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we canexpect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by theaverage citizen of Mentia."

yesrushUID: 2443769

TOPIC: ARGUMENT35 - The following appeared in the summary of a study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia.

"Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, for the past several decades food-processing companies have also been adding salicylates to foods as preservatives. This rise in the commercial use of salicylates has been found to correlate with a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by participants in our twenty-year study. Recently, food-processing companies have found that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods. With this new use for salicylates, we can expect a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia."
WORDS: 481          TIME: 00:30:00          DATE: 2009-8-10 17:34:07

By citing the fact that salucylates are member of the same chemical family as aspirin, and the study during twenty years, that the number of headaches who took the commercial use of salicylates was decreasing, the author concludes that salocylated should be add in food as flavor additives for the purpose of reducing the possibility of suffering headaches. The argument seems to sound on the surface, however, the author fails to consider several factors to evaluate the situation.

To begin with, the author falsely argues that salicylates can treat headaches in that salicylates and aspirin are the members in the same chemical family. However, there is no evidence shows that these two medicine present the same information in all the aspects, especially in the medical sphere. It is widely known that two materials may present different characteristics although they are the same chemical family, and one of the paradigmatic examples is the diamond and wood. Albeit both of each is composed of carbon, nonetheless they differ in the color, hardness and commercial value. Lacking the relevant information about these two medicine, I can not agree with the author's conclusion.

In addition, even if the saliculates have similar function on dealing with headaches like aspirin, the author unfairly assumes that the decline of number of headaches is attributable to salicylates. The author ignores other factors rather than salicylates play major roles in curing headaches. Is it possible that the headaches are busy from day to night on work everyday in the early while they work less than eight hours everyday after twenty years? Do these headaches take more exercise and have a more healthy diet than they twenty years ago? Does the other medicine which these headaches take cure their headache problems? In the face of such limited evidence, it is fallacious for the author to draw into the conclusion that the decreasing headaches is the product of salicylates.

What's more, even though salicylates lead to curing the headaches, the author overlooks the potential side effects by salicylates. Taking salicylates too much is inclined to be harmful on the health, and the persons taking salicylates are more likely to suffer with mental fatigue, insomnia and inappetence. Even if there is no obvious symptons in the short run, no one can ensure that people will not have physical problems in the long term. In addition, the author also neglects the possibility that the price of salicylates is too high to ancients can afford.

To sum up, the argument suffers from several fallacies. To make the argument more convincing, the author should provide more detail information about the headaches taking salicylates in the study. To undermine the fear of side effects of salicylates, the author must present more evidence about research on salicylates. If the author had present these information given above, I will join the group to encourage the headaches to take salicylates.

blade134UID: 2328542

TOPIC: ARGUMENT76 - The following appeared as part of an article in a health and beauty magazine.

"A group of volunteers participated in a study of consumer responses to the new Luxess face cream. Every morning for a month, they washed their faces with mild soap and then applied Luxess. At the end of that month, most volunteers reported a marked improvement in the way their skin looked and felt. Thus it appears that Luxess is truly effective in improving the condition of facial skin."
WORDS: 385          TIME: 00:35:00          DATE: 2009-8-11 1:58:39

In this argument, the author has introduced a kind of face cream named Luxess. To prove its effect, he has used an experiment which invites a group of volunteers to use the cream to wash their faces. The responds of these volunteers seems credible, however, we still has some problems about this experiment and the author's conclusion.

First, the experiment the author uses is lack of detail information. This information, such as the number of the group of the volunteers and the condition of their face skin, is very critical to assess the effect of the face cream. If most of the volunteers were model with outstanding face skin, the result of this experiment would be meaningless to the general public. Even if the volunteers are random picked, the result of the experiment can not represent most of people if the number of volunteers involved was minute. Without such information, the procedure of the experiment is not objective at all.

Another fundamental problem is the assessment of these volunteers. It can not deduce that the cream is effective from the volunteers' comments because a marked improvement in the way their skin looked and felt, as the author said, is too subjective for others to judge the effect of this cream. Without any further description, or any accurate data-comparison, the evaluation seems no valuable.

Finally, the biggest fundamental problem of this experiment is we can not sure the effect of the face cream at all for the volunteers are used mild soup at the same time. As the soup can clean the oil and dust from the skin, too, we do not know which one improve the volunteers' faces more, the soup or the face cream. To demonstrate the effect of the face cream, the experiment needs to invite another group of volunteers with same face condition as the original one to use the mild soup only as a reference group to the original one.

In sum, we still need more evidence to know if it is real effective as described. Furthermore, even the procedure of the experiment is appropriate hence the cream is effective indeed, we still do not know whether it has some unwanted side effects for some people. People with allergic skin condition should pay attention to this caution before using it first time.

呃，半夜眼花，把76看成了要写的了。。