medium · GMAT Verbal Reasoning
A researcher concludes that a new pesticide is safe for bees because a study found that bee colonies exposed to it showed no decline in population over one month.
Which of the following, if true, most weakens the researcher's conclusion?
- The new pesticide costs farmers less per hectare to apply than several older pest-control treatments.
- The bee colonies used in the study were housed in standard wooden hives of the same design and size.
- Several older pesticides that are still in common agricultural use have proven to be far more lethal to bees than this newer formulation is.
- The single observation month coincided with the season when colonies naturally reproduce fastest, potentially offsetting hidden losses.
- The pesticide proved to be highly effective at quickly eliminating the various agricultural pests that it had been specifically designed to control.
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