Health Canada is planning to launch a study to look into the health complaints of people living near wind turbines.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq says the research was prompted by concerns from residents living near wind farms about possible health problems related to low-frequency noise from the turbines.

A number of people living near wind turbines have described complaints such as constant headaches, vertigo and ringing in the ears. Others have complained of sleep disturbances, anxiety and other mental health problems.

But most studies to date have concluded that the sounds and vibrations coming from wind turbines simply can't be linked to health problems.

CanWEA, the Canadian Wind Energy Association, says on its website: “In over 25 years and with more than 68,000 turbines installed around the world, no member of the public has ever been harmed by wind turbines.”

The $1.8 million Health Canada study will focus on residents in 2,000 homes near eight to 12 wind-turbine installations across Canada.

Researchers will assess residents' blood pressure and take other physical measurements, conduct in-person interviews, and measure noise levels both inside and outside some homes.

Results of the research are expected to be published in 2014.

The proposed research design is posted on Health Canada's website for a 30-day public comment period. Feedback will be reviewed by the committee designing the study.

Wind Concerns Ontario, a group that opposes wind farms, welcomed the study announcement.

"We have been saying this for years as people in Ontario exposed to turbine noise and infrasound are being made ill," the group's president, Jane Wilson, said in a release Tuesday.

"We have demanded health studies, we have demanded research to back up the province's assertion that its setbacks are safe. And yet the province issued approvals for these projects with no scientific evidence to prove they were safe. Now, Health Canada's admission that research is needed is confirming that."

An MPP from Nipissing, Ont., Vic Fedelin, is calling for an immediate end to further wind power development in Ontario, in light of the Health Canada study.

“The fact the federal government feels this study is necessary is reason enough to put a halt to any more wind turbines being built in Ontario right now,” Fedeli, who is the Progressive Conservative energy critic, said in a statement.

He says he’s been to dozens of town halls across Ontario and has heard the stories of those who say they have experienced health effects from turbines.

“Dalton McGuinty needs to do the right thing and implement an immediate halt to further wind power development in Ontario,” he said.

Fedeli says that concerns with wind power go well beyond health woes. He says wind power is helping drive up the cost of Ontario electricity to second-highest in North America and killing jobs.

“It also is generated at times we don’t need it, creating surplus power we have to sell at a loss, and isn’t there when we need it, as was seen during last week’s heat wave,” added Fedeli.

“Wind power, quite simply, has been a dismal failure for Ontarians,” he said.