The frequent use of alcohol by young people is being reported as occurring at increasingly early ages. Even though alcoholism is considered to be a disease, most doctors recommend psychological counseling and support groups as the best treatment. In some places and times, susceptibility to any kind of disease has been viewed as a moral failing. More physicians now than in the past are trained to recognize the physical effects of alcoholism.
Some health officials are concerned about the current sustained increase in reported deaths from alcohol-related conditions, attributing this increase to a rise in alcoholism. What these health officials are overlooking, however, is that attitudes toward alcoholism have changed radically. Alcoholism is now widely viewed as a disease, whereas in the past it was considered a moral failing. It is ttherefore likely that more deaths are being reported as alcohol-related because physicians are more likely to identify these deaths as alcohol-related.
Which one of the following, if true, provides the most support for the argument?