GH helping the elderly as well

On Nov. 11, 2002, Gina Kolata wrote an article in the New York Times about HGH. She uses inductive reasoning to state how growth hormone can help elderly patients. In the article, she uses a specific clinical trial to prove her point about the effects of the treatment on adults. The trial consisted of both female and male patients that ranged in age from early 60's to late 80's. "The results were potent." Kolata states. Some men gained over 10lbs in muscle mass while women lost about 5lbs and gained only a few pounds of muscle mass.

Kolata uses a (slippery slope) illogical fallacy when she compares the trial stated above to another trial that was conducted on animals. SHe warns that we should proceed with caution when it comes to HGH. When animals were gives HGH, it sped up the aging process for them. Although we can learn a lot from these results, we can not assume that what happen to the animals will happen to humans. we're not built the same and too many factors are involved that can skew the results. Other than that, she was good about not making any other illogical fallacies.