Much concern has been expressed regarding the practice of using nitrates as meat preservatives. In one study involving possible effects of these chemicals, bacte- ria cultures were grown in a medium containing nitrates.

The rate of uptake of radio-labeled amino acid (in dpm, disintegrations per minute) was then determined for each culture, yielding the following observations: 7251 6871 9632 6866 9094 5849 8957 7978 7064 7494 7883 8178 7523 8724 7468 0000 Suppose that it is known that the mean rate of uptake for cultures without nitrates is 8000. Do the data suggest that the addition of nitrates results in a decrease in the mean rate of uptake? Test the appropriate hypotheses using a significance level of .10.