1450 Foliage Force

I suppose it’s kind of a “turn about is fair play” thing. For years, we have been using animals to sniff out dangerous plants and plant stuff like marijuana and heroin.
Now they’ve found a way for plants to sniff out dangerous animals. As in human terrorists.
Here’s the story. According to a Colorado State University scientist, plants can’t run and hide, so they are very good at using chemical messengers to do things, like turn white instead of green. So good, in fact, that the scientists have genetically engineered them to do just that in the presence of TNT.
The chemical odors in TNT trigger those plants to rapidly respond, change their structure and drain chlorophyll from their leaves, thus leaving them whiter in the presence of the explosive.
Researcher June Medford says the stretch of DNA code they worked with could be used with just about any plant and a whole range of explosives. Apparently, the government is interested.
I’ve heard of industrial plants, but this is ridiculous. Security Plants? The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security have spent millions on the project, hoping to deploy a “foliage force”.
Great...Terminator, meet Germinator.
I worry about turning this genetic engineering loose on the world. Everything brings about its opposite. One day we’ll have security trees, the next we’ll have criminal trees.
Firs in Stir, Penal Pines, Deciduous Delinquents, Jailed Junipers, Conifer Crooks under Hemlock and key.
But I guess we won’t have to worry for a while. The researchers say deployment is at least three years off. For one thing, they have to tweak the timing. Currently, once an engineered plant detects the odor of TNT, it takes three hours to change color.
You thought lines at the airport were long now...
America, ya gotta love it.