Embryonic stem cell research has the potential to eliminate many diseases that are currently considered incurable. However, many serious ethical concerns accompany the ostensible benefits of pursuing embryonic stem cell research. The status of the embryo is an important consideration in the ethics of stem cell research. If the embryo is considered to be a living being in its own right, as it is by some, then stem cell research is objectionable because it compromises the life of an unborn, living being. If the embryo is considered to be a developing mass of tissue with no real "life" of its own, then stem cell research is not ethically objectionable. Because it is possible to generate embryos from embryonic stem cells, it is also theoretically possible to create genetically altered human beings. This possibility must be considered in any examination of the ethics of stem cell research (17). Different religions, such as Catholicism or Judaism, take very different approaches to the moral dilemma of stem cell research.