A recently issued twenty-year study on headaches suffered by the residents of Mentia investigated the possible therapeutic effect of consuming salicylates. Salicylates are members of the same chemical family as aspirin, a medicine used to treat headaches. Although many foods are naturally rich in salicylates, food-processing companies also add salicylates to foods as preservatives. The twenty-year study found a correlation between the rise in the commercial use of salicylates and a steady decline in the average number of headaches reported by study participants. At the time when the study concluded, food-processing companies had just discovered that salicylates can also be used as flavor additives for foods, and, as a result, many companies plan to do so. Based on these study results, some health experts predict that residents of Mentia will suffer even fewer headaches in the future.
Write a response in which you discuss what questions would need to be answered in order to decide whether the prediction and the argument on which it is based are reasonable. Be sure to explain how the answers to these questions would help to evaluate the prediction.
The following argument is flawed for numerous reason. Primarily, the argument is base on unwarranted assumption that salicylates found in food can be used as a cure for headache. Rendering it's main conclusion that with this salicylates we can expect a steady decline in the number of headache suffered, invalid.
The argument fails to provide any justification that salicylates found in food can be used in curring headache for one, the side effects on other part of the body is not talked about. This significant difference could explain the success of using salicylates as cure for headache.
The argument also leaves many other unanswered questions regarding the duration in which salicylates can last in food when been used as preservatives and if salicylates gives a desired flavor.
Finally, the argument claims without warrant that salicylates can be used as cure for headache. The argument is still lacking because it does not provide information regarding its side effects in other body part and duration as food preservatives.
Because the argument makes several unwarranted assumptions it fails to make a convincing case that salicylate can serves as a remedy for headache.
