Animal diseases that could be used as biological weapons are a significant threat, said the World Health Organization, animal health and national defense officers on Tuesday at a conference in Paris on biological threat reduction, according to a release from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

Among human diseases, 60 percent come from animal agents--and 80 percent of agents that could be implemented for bio-terrorism have animal origins, said Bernard Vallat, director general of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), according to Yahoo News

With the latest example of disease spread from humans being bird flu, the OIE and the WHO warned that not only can animal disease agents escape naturally and accidentally--but also intentionally from laboratories. Also at the conference, Kenneth Myers, Director of the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), part of the Department of Defense, underscored the need for nations to collaborate to avoid the loss of biological material, according to the OIE release.

Security breaches involving animal diseases are not rare; the Pentagon, for instance, mistakenly sent nine live samples of anthrax to five countries outside the United States and to dozens of U.S. labs, as covered by HNGN in late May.

The Paris conference gathered experts from the OIE, WHO, Interpol, and representatives from the health, security, or defense sectors from over 120 countries. "International solidarity is key because any country that does not implement standards can be a threat to the entire planet," Reuters reported.

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