The Canadian government is launching a $3.9-million study to track the environmental chemicals to which pregnant women and their babies are exposed.

The government also reiterated its commitment to high-priority "substance management" through ongoing reporting by manufacturers, importers and industrial users about the chemicals they use. The initiative is known as the "Challenge."

Both projects are part of the federal Chemicals Management Plan announced last year.

The Maternal-Infant Research on Environmental Chemicals (MIREC) study will examine 2,000 pregnant women. They will be recruited in their first trimesters and tracked until eight weeks after delivery.

Body fluids and tissue samples will be taken from the participants and tested for environmental chemicals such as phthalates, fire retardants and bisphenol A. Breast milk will also be tested for nutrients and chemicals.

Researchers in Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax, and the Ontario cities of Toronto, Ottawa, Sudbury, Kingston and Hamilton will also look at the effects that exposure to tobacco smoke has on pregnant women and their fetuses as well as the impact heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, can have during pregnancy.

"Combined with the Chemicals Management Plan, MIREC will be a valuable next step in determining the kinds and amounts of chemicals present in our environment and our bodies," said Ken Ogilvie, executive director of Pollution Probe, in a release.

The Sainte-Justine Hospital in Montreal will co-ordinate the research, which will take place over a five-year period. The results will be released in 2012.

The study is funded by Health Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Ontario Ministry of the Environment.