请教OG-62

mikecat

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
At a recent conference on environmental threats to the North Sea, most participating
countries favored uniform controls on the quality of effluents, whether or not specific
environmental damage could be attributed to a particular source of effluent. What must, of
course, be shown, in order to avoid excessively restrictive controls, is that ___________.
(A) any uniform controls that are adopted are likely to be implemented without delay
(B) any substance to be made subject to controls can actually cause environmental
damage
(C) the countries favoring uniform controls are those generating the largest quantities of
effluents
(D) all of any given pollutant that is to be controlled actually reaches the North Sea at
present
(E) environmental damage already inflicted on the North Sea is reversible

其实可能说是语法根确切，请问whether or not specific
environmental damage could be attributed to a particular source of effluent. 这句话在文中什么作用？这应该是个名词从句吧？怎么没头没脑的蹦出来这么一句？他对整个的逻辑有什么作用呢？谢谢！！

mikecat

没人知道吗？！！