tpo 13

The reading claims that private collectors have been selling and buying fossils and this is an unfortunate development for both scientists and the general public. It provides three reasons of support. However, the professor states that there are some negative consequences but the benefits of the private collectors are more than the disdvantages and she refutes each of the author's reasons.

First, the article avers that the public suffers because fossils that would otherwise be donated to museums where everyone can see them are sold to private collectors who don't allow the public to view their collection. In contrast, the speaker opposes this point by stating that the public has a great opportunity to see the fossils because of the collectors. These collectors pruchase a lot of fossils, as a result, they would display them for public such as schools and museums.

Second, the passage asserts that scientists are likely to lose access to some of the important fossils and thereby miss out on potentially crucial discoveries about extinct life form. On the other hand, the professor counters this point by saying that this point is not realistic. In fact, before they put the value to sell the fossils, scientists identify the fossils by performing tests and investigations. Actually, if the fossils has any information, it should be done by experts and scientists community, so the scientists are not going to miss the important information in the fossils.

Third, the passage posits that commercial fossil collectors often destroy valuable scientific evidence associated with the fossils they unearth. Conversely, the professor casts doubt on this point by explaining that there is no damage for the fossils because this would lead to discovery for many other fossils. Frankly, the process of collecting the fossils run by an university or other facilities and a lot of other fossils would be discovered by the collectors which help the scientists to get information from the fossils.