ShmoopTube

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Here's your shmoop du jour brought to you by the placenta which [Man walks to table with placenta on a plate]

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really doesn't taste like chicken don't believe the lies...

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Here's the question fetal alcohol syndrome is the result of a fetus being exposed to alcohol

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in the womb. Alcohol is a chemical that can pass through the placenta if

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ingested by the mother and is referred to as a what and here are our potential

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answers.....we'll tell you right now the first three answers

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don't fit the bill at all stimulants are drugs like caffeine and ecstasy they [Person holds cup of coffee and a pill of ecstasy]

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cause you to feel stimulated it's hard to take a nap when you're hopped up on

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stimulants and although hops and naps both definitely have to do with [Man takes drink of bottle on park bench]

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alcohol stimulants themselves don't... opiates are psychoactive drugs like

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morphine and codeine that come from the opium poppy plant last we checked

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alcohol does not come from a plant well not usually okay fine most are but not [Selection of alcoholic drinks]

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from the poppy plant all right well how about C -psychedelics are psychoactive

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drugs like LSD that do exactly what they sound like they psych you out by [Man riding on a unicorn]

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switching up your cognition and perception and while alcohol certainly

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alters your perception slightly it's definitely not psychedelic ...Acohol is

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technically classified as a depressant something that lowers your

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neurotransmission levels however even if they were one of our answers it's not [Man with head in his hands]

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we're looking for..Sorry for getting your hopes up there for a second...

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and an allergen isn't it either because the feuts isn't technically allergic to [Woman sneezing]

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the alcohol but we all know that you don't have to be allergic to something

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for it to cause you harm well no one's allergic to bullying or global warming [Students bullying classmate and polar ice caps appear]

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or really overcooked spaghetti but that doesn't mean all those things aren't bad

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for you well the answer we want is D - teratogen you knew it would be the word

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you've never heard before right? Teratogens

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include anything that can prohibit normal development of the fetus drugs [Woman taking drink of alcoholic drink]

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that are not filtered out by the placenta can cause harm to the fetus so

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they fall into the category of teratogen...Teratogen a word which if you ask us

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should really well be obviously more negative like carcinogen, toxicology or

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Voldemort... we said his name, better get out of [Voldemort appears and people run away]

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here quick well we hope you enjoyed the last shmoop video ever made...

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