After a name-brand drug has been sold for several years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will allow other companies to produce a generic equivalent.

The FDA will permit the generic drug to be sold as long as there isn’t convincing evidence that it is less effective than the name brand drug. For a proposed generic drug intended to lower blood pressure, the following hypotheses will be used:

H0 : mG = mN versus Ha : mG < mN where mG = true mean reduction in blood pressure using the generic drug mN = true mean reduction in blood pressure using the name-brand drug.

In the context of this situation, which of the following describes a Type I error?

(a) The FDA finds convincing evidence that the generic drug is less effective, when in reality it is less effective.

(b) The FDA finds convincing evidence that the generic drug is less effective, when in reality it is equally effective.

(c) The FDA fails to find convincing evidence that the generic drug is less effective, when in reality it is less effective.

(d) The FDA fails to find convincing evidence that the generic drug is less effective, when in reality it is equally effective.

(e) The FDA finds convincing evidence that the generic drug is equally effective, when in reality it is less effective.