The relaxation of regulations governing the manufacture and sale of new medicines to increase their availability should not be accompanied by a lifting of all regulations that restrict industrial activity generally. Unless strict environmental regulations are maintained, endangered species of plants and animals will become extinct. And since a large majority of new medicines are derived from plants and animals, a general deregulatory approach could actually undermine the original intent of the relaxation of regulations governing the manufacture and sale of new medicines. The statement that a large majority of new medicines are derived from plants and animals plays which one of the following roles in the argument?
A: support for the hypothesis that only very narrowly focused efforts at deregulation of industrial activity actually have beneficial results
B: evidence for a point of view that the argument is designed to undermine
C: a link between the extinction of species and the potentially decreased availability of new medicines
D: an illustration of the potential disaster that could result from continued overregulation of industrial activity
Choose A, B, C or D as your solution.
C