Which of the following provides the most reasonable explanation for the assertion in the first paragraph that evolutionary history “obviously” did not act on PTC?

Directions: Read the passage and answer the question.

In nearly all human populations a majority of individuals can taste the artificially synthesized chemical phenylthiocarbonide (PTC). However, the percentage varies dramatically – from as low as 60% in India to as high as 95% in Africa. That this polymorphism is observed in non - human primates as well indicates a long evolutionary history which although obviously not acting on PTC, might reflect evolutionary selection for taste discrimination of other, more significant bitter substances, such as certain toxic plants. A somewhat more puzzling human polymorphism is the genetic variability in earwax, or cerumen which is observed in two varieties. Among European populations 90% of individuals have a sticky yellow variety rather than a dry, gray one, whereas in northern China these numbers are approximately the reverse. Perhaps like PTC variability, cerumen is an incidental expression of something more adaptively significant. Indeed, the observed relationship between cerumen and odorous bodily secretions denote that during the course of human evolution, genes affecting body secretions, including cerumen, came under selective influence.