HIV scare shuts down LA porn productions

GlobalPost

An adult film performer has tested positive for HIV, and adult film productions in Los Angeles have agreed to temporarily halt work until further testing can confirm results, a porn industry trade group has announced.

After learning on Saturday that the actor had tested positive in another state, the trade group, the Free Speech Coalition, asked adult film production companies to declare a moratorium on production, Executive Director Diane Duke told the Los Angeles Times. "Retesting and confirmation is underway as is the process of identifying and testing first- and second- generation partners," she said. Result of further testing should be available in a week.

Duke added that company officials she spoke with – including those at the well-known Hustler and Evil Angel studios – had agreed to the work stoppage.

Many studios appeared to be heeding the shut-down request, Tom Hymes, a senior editor for Adult Video News, told the Los Angeles Daily News. "We are aware that limited shooting is taking place in Los Angeles, but also that some studios have agreed to suspend production immediately," Hymes said. He added that two of the largest talent agencies had also told workers to be retested for HIV.

This isn’t the first voluntary shut-down for porn producers in Los Angeles. In 2004, the Los Angeles Daily News reports, an HIV outbreak among several actors in the Valley prompted dozens of production companies to shut down temporarily.

The shut-down has intensified calls for a law that would require porn producers to have actors use condoms in order to qualify for a filming permit.

Groups such as the Free Speech Coalition maintain that testing is sufficient to keep adult film actors safe. In Los Angeles, porn actors must be tested every 30 days and show proof of a clean test before they perform, according to voluntary industry standards, the Los Angeles Times reports.

But the AIDS Healthcare Foundation has been advocating for a mandatory-condom-use law for some time, and earlier this month, it announced that it would work to gather 41,138 petition signatures to get a measure on the June 2012 ballot, CBS News reports.

Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the latest incident shows that testing is not an adequate substitute for condoms. He said in a statement: "The question remains how many performers must become infected with HIV and other serous STDs before the industry will clean up its act and government will do the right thing?"

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