TPO-13

The reading states that there are negative consequences that private collectors have been selling and buying fossils for both scientist and general public and provides three reasons of support. However, the professor says that as there are some negative consequences, the benefits of commercial fossil trade outweigh the disadvantages and refutes each of the author's reasons

First, the reading claims that the public suffers because the fossils that would be otherwise donated to museums where everyone can see them are sold to private collectors who do not allow the public view them. The professor refutes this point by stating that the commercial fossil trade makes a lot of fossils available for purchase like public schools and libraries can buy interesting fossils and display them. Therefore, the public is likely to have greater exposure to fossils.

Second, the author explains that the scientists are likely to lose the access to the most important fossils and miss out on potentially crucial discoveries about extinct life form. In contrast, the professor states that this point is not realistic. The fossil has to pass through scientific expert first before it go to a private collector, as a result the scientists are not going to miss out on anything important.

Third, the passage asserts that the commercial fossil collector often destroy valuable scientific evidence and the collector do not pay attention to how fossils lie in the ground. The professor refutes this point by that if private collectors do not find them, there are also many fossils undiscovered. It is better to have some fossils with some damages than to have them buried for a long time in the ground.