agrument35 0906G三月底AW“永不言弃”互改小组第一周第五次作业 by 3号水孩子

cuttlefishwangUID：2592092

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: ***
TIME: 00:30:00
DATE: 2009-2-10 10:43:14


In this memo, the speaker indicate that the number of people who suffer from bad headaches will decline in the recent years due to a series of evidence brought about by a study of the residents of Mentia. To substantiate the conclusion, the speaker cites (1)Salicylate is the same chemical family as aspirin;(2)Food-processing companies added Salicylate to food companied by declining ratio of headaches.(3)Salicylate can also been used as flavor announced by a recent research. However, close scrutiny of evidence and of the speaker's line of reasoning reveals that little credible evidence can support to the speaker's conclusion.
To begin with, there are several flaws in the argument's assumptions about the effectivenss of Salicylate. While it is likely that Salicylates has some effect of treating headaches as well as aspirin due to their similar (chemical composition) structure, it is equally possible that Salicylate doesn't cure(treat) pains, and that it has some other effect which may influence patients. Without a comprehensive study of Salicylates' effect to cure patients, the speaker take it for granted that it has the same result as another similar meditation.
Secondly, what make the argument more unconvincing and incomplete is that the speaker incorrectly connected with declining rate of headache reported and the use of Salicylates as a kind of preservatives by companies. In the first place, it is entirely possible that the study's data is not accurate. Perhaps there are many people who have headache but told the researchers that haven't, and it is also likely that those who said they feel better is a relatively small part of patients ,which can't represent for the generation. what's more, those patients participated in the study may take some other food without Salicylates instead, what contribute to their lighter headache is another kind of meditation and thus make the analysis unwarranted.
Last but not least, even if Salicylates can be used as flavor, the argument's conclusion that there will be a declining rate of headache is unwarranted without providing that Salicylates can treat headaches and that those people actually eat those food with Salicylates and that the amount of Salicylates in the food in a proper one.
To sum up, the speaker fails to convince me that a continued steady decline in the number of headaches suffered by the average citizen of Mentia without strong evidence in several aspect. Before I accept the conclusion, the speaker must assure me that S is have the same or even stronger effect of pains than the aspirin. To be better assess the argument I would need to know profound information about Salicylates' connection with other kind of meditations which are used to treat headaches.