Extract:
Toxins and Your Health
Lie out in the sun too much today, and get skin cancer 20 years from now. Smoke too many cigarettes now, and get lung cancer decades down the road. Now there is potentially a third danger to add to this list: be exposed to too much lead, pesticides, or mercury now and have your aging brain become seriously confused during your senior years.
“We’re trying to offer a caution that a portion of what has been called normal aging might in fact be due to ubiquitous environmental exposures like lead,” says Dr. Brian Schwartz of Johns Hopkins University. “The fact that it’s happening with lead is the first proof of the principle that it’s possible.”
A new area of medical research is one that studies how exposure to toxic elements in younger years can result in serious health problems in senior years. It is difficult to research these problems because the only way to do so is to observe people over many years.
Physicians test for lead amounts by seeing how much has accumulated in a person’s shinbone. Testing the blood also often reveals amounts of lead, but that is a sign of recent, not lifelong, exposure. The higher the lifetime lead dose, according to the study, the worse the performance of mental functions, including verbal and visual memory and language ability.
Which of the following statements is an opinion?
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A
Smoking cigarettes today may lead to lung cancer later.
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B
Doctors are studying the results of exposure to toxic elements.
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C
People with dementia should be tested for lead exposure.
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D
Researchers test the shinbone to look for built-up toxins.
The opinion statement is that people with dementia should be tested for lead exposure, a prescriptive recommendation not explicitly stated in the passage.
A) Smoking cigarettes today may lead to lung cancer later
This reflects established medical consensus presented factually in the opening parallel structure—not personal judgment.
B) Doctors are studying the results of exposure to toxic elements
This is directly supported: "A new area of medical research is one that studies how exposure to toxic elements in younger years can result in serious health problems in senior years."
C) People with dementia should be tested for lead exposure
While the research suggests lead affects cognitive function in aging, the passage never recommends testing dementia patients for lead. This prescriptive "should" statement extrapolates beyond documented facts into advocacy.
D) Researchers test the shinbone to look for built-up toxins
This is directly stated: "Physicians test for lead amounts by seeing how much has accumulated in a person's shinbone."
Conclusion
Opinions contain prescriptive language ("should"), value judgments, or recommendations not objectively verifiable. Facts can be confirmed through observation or textual evidence. Option C introduces an unverified recommendation absent from the passage's factual reporting.