#8 - Lobsters and other crustaceans eaten by humans are more

[Adam Tyson]

Remember that the conclusion we want to weaken here, aheartofsunshine, is that the proposal to reroute the sewage offshore is pointless. To weaken that, we want to show that the proposal does, in fact, have a point. Answer C fails to give the proposal a point, because it doesn't give us a reason to get rid of the sewage. In fact, one could say that it strengthens the argument rather than weakening it, because it shows us that the sewage isn't doing anything to harm the breeding habits of the lobsters. At least in that one regard, the sewage just doesn't matter, so why bother to reroute it? Doing so would be pointless!

Don't add facts or speculation to an answer choice - it needs to stand or fall all on its own. We shouldn't not be going beyond that answer to make assumptions about whether it's good or bad that lobsters are breeding just as readily. Take it at face value - it's just saying that the sewage doesn't appear to have a particular effect. When we "help" answers by adding our own assumptions and outside information, we are heading down a dangerous path, where wrong answer lie in wait to tear down our scores!