A PORT Stephens resident - impacted by contamination from Williamtown's RAAF base - has welcomed recent findings into the reduction of PFAS blood concentrations, but says the results are "no silver bullet".
Former head of the national Coalition Against PFAS, Lindsay Clout commended the research, but said he doesn't believe the findings address core issues for his community.
"There's no question that the results quite clearly show a reduction in blood PFAS levels," Mr Clout told the Newcastle Herald.
"If there's someone out there that thinks this is some kind of silver bullet then that is disgusting.
"People are still out here living on a contaminated site. It needs to be cleaned up or people need to be assisted to be able to move away."
The study, which was conducted in partnership with Fire and Rescue Victoria (FRV), involved 285 FRV staff and contractors found to have "elevated" PFAS levels in their blood.
"They were randomly allocated to donate plasma every six weeks, to donate whole blood every 12 weeks, or to make no donations (the control group) for 12 months," an article written in The Conversation by the study's authors said.
"Both blood and plasma donation resulted in significantly lower PFAS chemicals than the control group, and these differences were maintained three months later."
According to the authors, the Australian Red Cross say people who have been exposed to PFAS - which has been linked to some adverse health outcomes - can still donate blood. However, Mr Clout says he "couldn't in good conscience" risk the health of another person.
"How could you give blood with any level of PFAS in it to someone that might already have health issues," Mr Clout said.
As a Fullerton Cove resident living in the area's "red zone" , Mr Clout said the community is exhausted.
"From a clinical point of view this research might be of great value but the fundamental here is that we are living on a contaminated site and continue to be ignored," he said.
"There's a perception that our class action has closed the issue but that had nothing to do with the contamination clean up.
"Our properties are still not fit for purpose. We can't grow food or livestock and it's very hard to sell.
"People out here have all but given up because there have been no results."
