Beneris work packages

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Workpackage 1 (Top-down approach to risk-benefit analysis)

Objectives:

• To introduce all partners to the common methods to be used: integrated modelling and Bayesian belief networks.
• To develop Bayesian belief networks (BBN) to handle complicated benefit-risk situations.
• To develop a decision support system (DSS) based on BBN.
• To develop improved methods for dose-response assessment, combining epidemiological and toxicological data.
• Apply the dose-response methods in combining epidemiological and toxicological information on fish contaminants (esp. dioxins and PCBs).
• To integrate results from the previous workpackages into an updated assessment.
• To evaluate the remaining uncertainties and their importance for decision-making.
• To evaluate the integration methodology by all partners and develop it further.
• To produce risk assessments that will be used for Internet interface and Dissemination Workpackages.

WP1 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• TUDelft
• FFiles
• FSAI
• DFVF
• FVST
• Lendac
• FIN

WP1 Leader:

Jouni Tuomisto (KTL) Jouni.Tuomisto[at]ktl.fi, Roger Cooke (Deputy) (KTL) cooke[at]rff.org

Workpackage 2 (Databases on consumption and cantaminants)

Objectives:

WP2.1 Food intake studies

• To review the existing databases and their availability for chemical contaminant data in Europe, and integrate available data.
• 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 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, we will test the hypothesis whether a recommendation to restrict fish eating would increase meat consumption.

WP2.2 Contaminant concentration studies:

• The general objective is to find out association between external dose (intake) and internal dose (concentrations in the body). The immediate objectives are
• To analyse contaminants (PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PBDEs, organotin compounds, PCNs and Hg/methyl-Hg) from 50-200 placentas.

WP2.3 Contaminant intake studies:

• To combine existing and new data of food diary data with data of contaminants. The special emphasis is on children and the developing foetus.

WP2.4 Database work:

• To develop an integrated repository of surveillance, nutrient and food consumption data,
• To develop a robust system capable of receiving datasets from multiple sources on an ongoing basis,
• To develop a rapid analytical tool for deriving intake estimates for key contaminants and essential nutrients to address the overall aims of the project.
• To develop tools for making the accumulated data readily available to key stakeholders involved in risk analysis including the European Food Safety Authority and national authorities.

WP2 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• FSAI
• DFVF
• FVST
• Lendac
• FIN

WP2 Leader: Ole Lagefoged (DFVF) ol[at]dfvf.dk Tero Hirvonen (Deputy) (KTL) Tero.Hirvonen[at]ktl.fi

WP2.1: Iona Pratt (FSAI) ipratt[at]fsai.ie Tero Hirvonen (Deputy) (KTL) Tero.Hirvonen[at]ktl.fi

WP2.2: Tero Hirvonen (KTL) Tero.Hirvonen[at]ktl.fi Terttu Vartiainen (Deputy) (KTL) Terttu.Vartiainen[at]ktl.fi

WP2.3: Terttu Vartiainen (KTL) Terttu.Vartiainen[at]ktl.fi Ole Lagefoged (Deputy) (DFVF) ol[at]dfvf.dk

WP2.4: Ole Lagefoged (DFVF) ol[at]dfvf.dk Don Lehane (Deputy) (Lendac) dlehane[at]lendac.ie

Workpackage 3 (Case study 1: fish)

Objectives:

The general objective is to perform risk-benefit analysis on fish based on the methods developed in WP1; nutrition and contaminant information collected in WP2; and benefit dose-responses derived in this WP. A special focus will be on Baltic herring and salmon, and their consumers in Northern Europe. These fish species form a particular problem with both high pollutant and high nutrient content. We will estimate the dose-response slopes for different health benefits of fish including uncertainty around these estimates. A key task is to quantify the cardiovascular benefits of fish on different population subgroups, like cardiovascular patients vs. healthy adults, using the large body of published literature. Other potential benefits of fish include beneficial effects during pregnancy and early childhood on childhood development, allergies, and osteoporosis. All of these effects will be reviewed, prioritized and the most important effects and their uncertainties will also be quantified.

WP3 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• TUDelft
• FFiles
• FSAI
• DFVF
• FIN

WP3 Leader:

Henna Karvonen (FFiles) Henna.Karvonen[at]foodfiles.com, Juha Pekkanen (Deputy) (KTL) Juha.Pekkanen[at]ktl.fi

Workpackage 4 (Case study 2: vegetables)

Objectives

• To perform a preliminary benefit-risk analysis for vegetables in diet. A special focus will be on alternative sources of nutrients, such as supplements and food fortification.
• To perform an updated benefit-risk analysis based on the preliminary analysis, the new intake data from several countries, and the redefined scope based on discussions among Beneris researchers.

WP4 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• FSAI
• DFVF
• FIN

WP4 Leader:

Luis Serra-Majem (FIN) lserra[at]dcc.ulpgc.es, Iona Pratt (Deputy) (FSAI) ipratt[at]fsai.ie

Workpackage 5 (Dissemination)

Objectives

• To develop an internet interface for publishing risk assessment results. Specifically,
• to develop a method to publish entire benefit-risk models over the Internet using XML;
• to develop methods to collect feedback from end-users about benefit-risk analyses;
• to enhance the availability of existing databases through this interface.
• 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.

WP5 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• TUDelft
• FFiles
• FSAI
• DFVF
• FVST
• Lendac

WP5 Leader:

Iona Pratt (FSAI) ipratt[at]fsai.ie, Don Lehane (Deputy) (Lendac) dlehane[at]lendac.ie

Workpackage 6: Cluster activities (leader IFL/Qalibra, KTL/Beneris)

Objectives:

The objective is to establish a platform for cluster activities between Qalibra and Beneris projects and report about them to the Commission.

WP6 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• TUDelft
• FSAI
• Qalibra

WP6 Leader (Beneris):

Maria Rusanen (KTL) Maria.Rusanen[at]ktl.fi, Jouni Tuomisto (Deputy) (KTL) Jouni.Tuomisto[at]ktl.fi

Workpackage 7 (Management) description

Objectives:

The objective of this activity is to guarantee a smooth and effective collaboration between partners, and an organised processing of different activities so that all partners are working in concert, and at the end of each year and at the end to take lead in reporting activities.

WP7 Participating Institutions:

• KTL
• TUDelft
• FFiles
• FSAI
• DFVF
• FVST
• Lendac
• FIN

WP7 Leader:

Jouni Tuomisto( KTL) Jouni.Tuomisto[at]ktl.fi, Juha Pekkanen (Deputy) (KTL) Juha.Pekkanen[at]ktl.fi

Graphical presentation of workpackages