HAMILTON — A major study on asthma and allergies is being launched to follow 5,000 Canadian children from their mother's pregnancy until the age of five.

Researchers will recruit pregnant women in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto to investigate the role of environmental exposures, infections, nutrition and genetics in the development of asthma and allergies.

The project, known as the CHILD study, will be led by Dr. Malcolm Sears, a professor of medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton.

He says the research will help with the future treatment of asthma and allergies, and notes that assessments of indoor air quality could some day influence home construction regulations.

A total of $12 million was announced for the study, with $6 million coming from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and $6 million from AllerGen, the Allergy, Genes and Environment research network.

AllerGen's scientific director, Dr. Judah Denburg, says almost one in five Canadians suffers from asthma and one in three has allergies. The incidence has steadily grown over the past 30 years.

"This study will help us understand why allergies and asthma are common problems in children, and it will help develop new therapies, medications, prevention and management strategies to control these chronic illnesses," Denburg, a professor of medicine at McMaster, said in a statement.

Mike Wallace, the member of Parliament for Burlington, announced the investment Friday on behalf of Health Minister Tony Clement at a news conference in Hamilton.

"Asthma and allergies are serious issues for hundreds of thousands of children and their parents, and we are committed to ensuring that we provide healthy environments for our children to live in," he said in a release.

CHILD stands for the Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development study.

In Toronto, expectant mothers will be recruited at Mount Sinai Hospital. In Winnipeg, the recruiting sites will be St. Boniface General Hospital and Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre. Participants in Edmonton will enrol at Grey Nuns Community Hospital, Misericordia Community Hospital, Royal Alexandra Hospital and Sturgeon Community Hospital. The Vancouver recruitment site is BC Women's Hospital and Health Centre.