请教OG-62

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！！

补语

英语里有这个吧

这句话应该理解为：不管某一种特定的环境污染是否能够追溯到某一特定的污染源。即不管某污染是由于一种污染源造成还是由于某几种污染原共同作用形成的（言下之意是只要它会造成污染就应当实行控制）。

所以本题的解题点就在这句话里

这里是否应该是把whether or not 当成是 if 引导前提