PUEBLA, MEXICO, April 22- Cloned
apes may be the wagelings of
the future. That is, if
Dr. Anita Guzman of Clonexico
Research manages to reach her
"impossible dream."

"We’re designing the drudge
jobster of the future here,"
says Dr. Guzman, "and she's
an ape."

The research company located
here in Puebla, Mexico, is at 
"the cutting edge" of primate
clone work, according to the
doctor. "And gene splicing,
too."

"We have plans to build the
better wage worker," she says.
"Better, cheaper, more
plentiful, more trouble free."

She says her research started
even before the world learned
of Dolly, the now famous
Scotish sheep clone.

"I've had my sights on this
for twenty years," she says. 
"Ever since I got out of 
Stanford."

"I returned here to my home 
town because we Pueblistas 
are so open to new things," 
says the doctor. 
       
That's not exactly the story
up north, in the US. 

Transgenetic work with 
primates is  still "off-limits
in the States," says Miguel
Arroyo, Director of 
Biochemical Oversight for the
State of puebla.
 
"Down here, we’re at closing
speed and doing it 24/7," 
he says.

"Remember the birth control
pill? That started here, too,
you know. We did the job when
it was still too hot to handle
up in God's country," adds
Arroyo, with obvious pride. 
"To us, this is the future and
we are not afraid of the
future."
  
"We’re taking a very simple
approach," says Madame Guzman.
"First we’re starting with a
chimp chassis, then we’re just
going to drop in enough added
cerebral fire power to get a
decent day's work out of them."

"Of course, we’ll have to
figure out how to balance their
temperament a bit," she adds.
"Chimps can be nasty and 
resistant to routine."

"Fortunately," according to
Dr. Guzman, "we know docility is
just chemistry." She adds, "As
soon as we isolate the molecules
involved we can gene them with
it."
       
So, one asks, what's in all this
for Clonexico?

According to company founder
Horge Pedroso, "It's all done
with faith. Faith and trust and
hope that someday there will come
a small profit from this
beautiful and bold vision."
 
"Of course, this isn't ivory
tower science we’re doing here,"
says Pedroso, a 28-year-old
self-styled "future freak."
 
The idea, according to
Clonexico’s chief is to turn out
"a one-size-fits-all laborer.
What we call in Spanish a
brassero. A brassero with a
permanent bad hair day."
  
"The science is really the easy
part," he says. "The challenge is
to find a way to turn them out 
like Perdue turns out chickens. 
Not simply ready for assignment,
but also marketable."

But beating the human competion
on price could prove to be very
tough, according to Pedroso.
"Yeah, to earn enough to pay for
themselves, their replacements, 
and leave a little extra for the
stockholders- that's a tall 
order," he says. 
    
Even so, Dr. Guzman is not
detered in the slightest. "We
here at Clonexico all come from
the culture that gave the world
Don Quixote," she likes to say.
"This is our impossible dream 
and we believe in the dream."

For the moment, apparently, a
lot of yankees believe, too. 
Enough to put their money down
on it.

"Yes, we’ve got lots of eager
American investors," Pedroso
confirms. "Apparently, we’ve
created some real excitement
up there."