A quote from Felsot (1998)

1. (10 points) Felsot (1998) discusses how improved technology has enabled scientists to detect ever smaller quantities of chemicals: "The reporting limit is the lowest concentration of chemical that the analytic chemist is willing to report with qualitative and quantitative confidence in accuracy. When the reporting limits were 1 ppb, only 1-2% of sampled midwestern wells were reported to have atrazine. When the reporting limit was lowered to 0.003 ppb (equivalent to 3 ppt), frequency of atrazine detections increased to 46%. . . . But simply reporting more contaminant detections does not change any hazards."

1a. Felsot's "reporting limit" provides an example of which of the following types of error: (Circle one answer only.)

(A) measurement error
(B) sampling error
(C) human error
(D) bias

1b. Fill in the two blanks in the following sentence so that your completed sentence correctly summarizes Felsot's argument. Use one word for each blank, and do not use the word "hazard."

Felsot's argument is that whereas _____________ in our knowledge of atrazine levels in wells has decreased, this has obviously not changed real levels of ___________ .