Beneris deliverables

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Deliverables list (full duration of project)
Deliverable name WP no. Dissemination level Success Comment
D1 Workplan pyrkilo WP1 RE Successfully finished Introduction of the method
D2 Beneris website WP5 PU Successfully created http://www.opasnet.org/beneris/index.php/Main_Page
D3 Kickoff meeting WP6 RE Successfully arranged 23rd-24th May, 2006
D4 Project poster and brochure WP7 PU Successfully created Poster + 4 page brochyre
D5 Beneris&Qalibra dissemination strategy WP6 RE Mostly finished scientific publications still in progress
D6 Table of benefits of fish WP3 PU Successfully finished In restricted website
D7 Database review: Contaminant food intake (pdf) WP2 PU Successfully finished 28 pages containing tables and introduction
D8 Improved dose response WP1 RE Successfully finished Taylor approximation paper, 28 pages
D9 Ethical approval WP2 RE Successfully finished Signed approval paper
D10 Food diaries WP2 PU Successfully collected Excel file containing desired data
D11 Food intake data FIN WP2 PU Successfully collected Excel file containing desired data
D12 Contaminant levels in fish WP2 PU Successfully collected Excel sheet containing desired data
D13 First year report WP7 PU Successfully accepted report information both in wikiformat and in pdf 48 pages
D14 Dietary patterns WP2 PU Successfully finished 3 pages
D15 Pyrkilo guide 2 WP1 PU Successfully finished Publication by Tuomisto JT and Pohjola M
D16 Cardiovascular disease benefit meta-analysis WP3 PU Successfully finished review, 23 pages
D17 Internet interface WP5 PU Two wiki-sites successfully launched Beneris and Heande wikis
D18 Subpopulation intakes WP2 PU Successfully collected Children intakes 1,3,6 years
D19 Contaminants in placenta WP2 PU Successfully finished Table for 117 contaminants. Additionally, a manuscript under finalization
D20 Intake of contaminants in children WP2 PU Successfully gathered Intakes for PCDD/F PCB, and Hg
D21 Intake of contaminants: national registries WP2 PU Karjalainen et al. manuscript under finalization, 32 pages not openly available before publishing
D22 Preliminary benefit-risk analysis of fish WP3 PU Paper published Jan 2009 Leino et al., Risk Analysis
D23 Second project meeting WP6 RE Successfully arranged Minutes and information published
D24 Midterm review report WP7 PU Successfully finished 1)Presentations, discussions, feedback 2)Mid term review, 32 pages 3)Reviewers' report, with response from the Beneris partners (pdf)
D25 Decision support system WP1 RE Brief description of the method Presentation slides, 6 pages
D26 Evaluation of patterns WP2 PU Brief description Figures, 3 pages. No comments or conclusions N/.../D26 contains the finished document
D27 Intakes based on patterns: Adults in Finland WP2 PU Successfully finished Report containing 11 pages
D28 Review on other health benefits of fish (pdf) WP3 PU Successfully finished Review containing 28 pages
D29-30 Contaminant intakes among Finnish adults, by sex and age group (pdf) WP2 PU Successfully finished PCDD/F and PCBs, 4 pages, introduction and tables
D31 Enduser evaluation WP5 PU Successfully finished Opasnet workshop 2009, 8 pages
D32 Critical dietary patterns in Finland WP2 PU Successfully finished Report containing tables and comments, 17 pages
D33 Consumer information on case results WP1 PU Successfully finished BENERIS wiki page
D34 Second year report WP7 PU Successfully finished 1)Activity report, 2)Management report, 3)Distribution of the Community's contribution report, 4)Appendix pages
D35 Pyrkilo guide 3 WP1 PU Successfully finished Report, 4 pages with link to pages
D36 Fetus contaminants from mother's diet WP2 PU Successfully finished Report in N/.../D36 9 pages
D37 Internet update WP5 PU Successfully finished Report, 11 pages
D38 Full benefit risk analysis of fish WP3 PU Successfully finished A restricted Wiki-page with relevant links
D39 Combined database WP2 PU Successfully finished N/.../D39 Report, 16 pages
D40 Full benefit-risk analysis: vegetables WP4 PU Successfully finished N/.../D40 Report, 26 pages
D41 Third project report WP7 PU Successfully corrected and finished 1)Activity report, 2)management report, 3)Distribution of the Community's contribution report, 4)Appendix pages
D42 VOI analysis of fish WP5 PU
D43 Consumer reactions WP5 PU
D44 Third project meeting WP6 RE
D45 Application of BRA to FSA WP1 PU
D46 End-user evaluation WP5 PU
D47 Scientific advisory panel WP6 RE
D48a Fourth periodic report and D48b Final report WP7 PU

Project objectives

Objective Success Comment
The general objective of this proposal is to create a framework for handling complicated benefit-risk situations, and apply it for analysis of the benefits and risks of certain foods. The first food commodity to be used in the development of the methodology is fish. Very successful. The framework was based on a novel idea of open participation on a web workspace. Although openness was described already in the Technical Annex, the importance and prospects of this approach was only understood during the first year of the project. A shift of emphasis from case studies towards framework development occurred starting from the first year, as described in annual reports and the mid-term meeting.

The resulting framework will potentially contribute in a major change in the science-policy interaction in many areas, including but not limited to food. We did not promise to demonstrate a major change in real-world practices during the lifetime of the project, and as expected, we did not see major changes. However, we are optimistic about this change in the near future, maybe a few years. The web workspace and the framework developed are being and will be used in the future in new projects by Beneris partners and others, and the ideas of openness and collaboration are clearly spreading in the scientific community. This is a mega-trend and mostly independent of us, but the progress of openness has been faster in the area of benefit-risk assessment than elsewhere, thanks to the tools and methods developed in Beneris. This is because we started an active development of these methods in 2006, but the idea of openness and collaboration has only made a breakthrough in public discussion only in 2009.

Objectives in developing benefit-risk analysis methods
To develop Bayesian belief networks (BBN) to handle complicated benefit-risk situations, and to develop a decision support system (DSS) based on BBN. Successful. Uninet software was further developed for open benefit-risk assessments for food. E.g. functionalities for linking Uninet models to Opasnet assessment descriptions were added. See e.g. Benefit-risk assessment of methyl mercury and omega-3 fatty acids in fish
To develop improved methods for dose-response assessment, combining epidemiological and toxicological data, and apply them in combining epidemiological and toxicological information on fish contaminants (esp. dioxins and PCBs). Successful. The work done was described in Media:D8 Generalized Method and its application to the BENERIS project pj rc.pdf.
To develop an integrated repository of surveillance, nutrient and food consumption data that is capable of receiving, analyzing, and disseminating the accumulated data for benefit-risk analysis and to key stakeholders. Successful. The integrated repository was developed with wide usability in mind. We wanted that it could contain very different kinds of information, basically anything that could be used in benefit-risk assessments. During the work (mostly second and third year) we realised that the database structure and interfaces need more work than we originally thought if the usability objective is to be met. Therefore, we put less emphasis in collecting raw data. The usability was demonstrated by the case studies. See e.g. methylmercury data and the description of the data.
Scientific objectives in food risks and benefits
To review the existing databases and their availability for chemical contaminant data in Europe, and integrate available data. Successful. The data was reviewed in D7 Database review Contaminant food intake.
To estimate average nutrient intakes and food consumption in various subgroups based on national registries in three countries and to explore the use of the data in benefit-risk analysis.
To estimate the health benefits of fish, and understand the effect of fish on different population subgroups (age, health, pregnancy etc.)
To establish the association between external dose (intake) and internal dose (concentrations in the body) by analysing contaminants (PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PBDEs, organotin compounds, PCNs and Hg/methyl-Hg) from 100-200 placentas. Successful. More than 100 placentas were analysed. The results are described in media:D19 Contaminants in placenta.doc.
To combine existing and new data from food consumption databases with data on levels of contaminants in fish. The special emphasis is on children and the developing foetus.
To estimate distributions of nutrient intake and food consumption relevant to benefit-risk analysis in a number of populations, and also the variability in exposure among various subgroups in the population.
To identify food consumption patterns and food choices that determine the intake of those nutrients and contaminants that are related to benefit/risk-balance of a food item.
To explore the usability of these patterns in another country than in which they were developed.
To find out the effects of certain policy options on dietary habits and on intake of important nutrients and contaminants (e.g. vitamin D, n-3 fatty acids, dioxins, PCBs). As an example, does a restrictive recommendation on fish eating increase meat consumption?
Objectives in dissemination
To integrate results into updated benefit-risk assessments, and evaluate the remaining uncertainties and their importance for decision-making.
To evaluate the integration methodology by all partners and develop it further. Mixed result. The methodology was presented to Beneris partners and one Qalibra partner in September 2007 in Berlin. It was discussed there. In addition, it was planned to be evaluated in more detail by FSAI. However, the methodology was found very confusing and different from traditional benefit-risk assessment. Detailed evaluation was considered impossible by FSAI, as explained in the fourth period report and D46 End user evaluation. Although the evaluation itself was not very successful, it gave a lot of food for thought and boosted the development of the method into something more practical and understandable. It was a confusing learning experience, but in the end, we did learn many useful things that were important for the method development.
To develop an internet interface for publishing risk assessment results. Extremely successful. Our original objectives were rather modest here: the plan was to develop a website where stand-alone assessment models can be published together with detailed descriptions. However, we were able to develop a web workspace where whole assessments can be initiated, designed, executed, evaluated, and disseminated, and where stakeholders can participate at any point. There is still a lot of work to be done to be able to actually run assessment models within the workspace. Other projects (e.g. Intarese) are now continuing this work.
To develop a method to publish entire benefit-risk models over the Internet using XML. Extremely successful. See also above. In the beginning of the project, we were only planning to focus on Analytica models which are in XML format. We developed a tool for automatically converting Analytica model files into model descriptions. Then we developed better practices to describe models directly in the workspace, which made a big leap towards open and collaborative modelling systems.
To develop methods to collect feedback from end-users about benefit-risk analyses. Successful. A survey functionality was developed to the Opasnet workspace. See e.g. End user evaluation.
To enhance the availability of existing databases through this interface. Successful. Opasnet workspace offers a practical place to describe existing databases (e.g. WHO mortality data, IA Tools. Opasnet Base offers a practical place to actually store the data, if it is freely available. This kind of work started in Beneris and is now ongoing in other projects. For example, Heimtsa project is using these tools to collect Morbidity data for Europe.
To disseminate the results and to evaluate the relevance and usefulness of the work done in the project from the perspective of an end-user / authority. Mostly successful. D46 End user evaluation looked at this issue although not as extensively as originally thought. In addition, the case studies were finalised later than thought, and therefore the time to disseminate results was shorter. On the other hand, Beneris was actively discussing with other projects, notably Intarese and Heimtsa. This was a major way to obtain evaluation and comments about the usefulness of Beneris framework and workspace. So, we got a lot of feedback from assessors as end users of the framework, but not very much from authorities or others as end users of Beneris case study assessments.
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