Experts say the Federal Government’s health advice on PFAS chemicals must be changed.

PFAS chemicals have historically been used in firefighting foam and related products.

Dr Andrew Jeremijenko has made a public submission to the Government's Expert Health Panel for PFAS saying that the current national guidance is misleading.

“It needs to be more accurate, it needs to reflect the scientific literature,” he said.

Dr Jeremijenko said studies have showed links between PFAS exposure and a range of health effects, including lower response rates to vaccines in children, reduced infectious disease resistance, increased hypersensitivity-related outcomes, and increased autoimmune disease incidence.

Dr Jeremijenko said that the advice given to residents in the NT town of Katherine last year to not drink bore water and to avoid eating local fish was almost comical advice.

“The Defence Force is going out to communities like Katherine and saying there's no health effects … the bore water's fine, it's really not a big issue but we want you to drink this bottled water, not the tap water,” he said.

“Now to me that doesn't make sense, they're saying take the precautionary approach but they're not saying why — that's not a good message.

“A good message is we are taking this precautionary approach because we are concerned that these chemicals are associated with cancer, are associated with thyroid disease, are associated with liver disease. That is a much clearer health message.”

PFAS group chemical perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) was added to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in 2009.

Dr Jeremijenko says Australia has not ratified the listing.

“That means it's the baddest of the bad chemicals, it's with things like DDT and dieldrin, these are very dangerous chemicals,” he said.

“You get on the Stockholm Convention because it's dangerous to your health and it's dangerous to the environment … the problem we have is that Australia decided not to ratify that.”

Dr Jeremijenko said that as well as ratifying the convention, England, Germany the United States and other countries are updating their health guidance based on the latest scientific data, and that Australia needs to follow suit.

The Department of Health's official advice states “there is no consistent evidence that PFAS cause any specific illnesses, including cancer”.

“Saying that there's no consistent evidence is not saying that there's no evidence, they're just saying there's a little bit of doubt but we don't want to tell you about it at the moment,” Dr Jeremijenko said.

The Health Department has convened its Expert Health Panel to advise “on the potential health impacts associated with PFAS exposure and to identify priority areas for further research”.

The panel's final advice is still being finalised.