The development of an in vitro cardiogenesis model was designed to enhance our understanding of the mechanism(s) of ethanol teratogenicity. Growth and development events in the model are similar to in vivo events. Time-specific and event-specific windows of biokinetic activities during both hyperplastic and hypertrophic growth are easily controlled and independently investigated. Systematic study of the effects of ethanol on the embryogenesis model, from committed blast cells to mature, functioning cells was accomplished to determine at what stage or stages of the growth and development paradigm ethanol exerts its teratogenic potential. Using the model and comparing the data to in vivo ethanol exposures, it appears that ethanol impairs the capability of the cell to properly propagate and mature.