Question

Assertion: Misuse and overuse of insecticides and antibiotics contributed significantly to the development of resistant strains.

Reason: Resistance against antibiotics or pesticides develop due to the internal vital force in bacteria and pests.

• A. Both assertion and reason are true and reason is the correct explanation of the assertion
• B. Both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of the assertion
• C. Assertion is true but reason is false
• D. Both assertion and reason are false

Answer 1

The correct option is C Assertion is true but reason is false

Antibiotics are drugs which are used to treat bacterial infections and pesticides are chemicals used to control pests attacking the agriculture fields. The rampant use of these for many decades has led to the emergence of resistant strains of bacteria and pests. The resistant strains arise due to natural selection of the pre-existing mutant varieties which have a physiological ability to counter these chemicals.

While most of their population was susceptible to begin with, only the resistant ones survived and passed on their genes to the succeeding generations. This has led to the problem of resistance being widespread and has necessitated the development of new antibiotics and pesticides to counter them.

The concept of internal vital force is from Lamarckism and this has been rejected for lack of any credible evidence. Thus the correct reason for development of resistant strains is natural selection.