December 24, 2009

California AIDS Group Seeks Law to Require Condoms in Adult Films

The California-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) has filed a petition to amend state regulations to explicitly require condom use in the Los Angeles adult film industry, which has an ongoing sexually transmitted infection (STI) epidemic.

AHF’s petition calls on the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal/OSHA) to clarify protection for adult film industry workers and to include a condom requirement to the “bloodborne pathogens” regulations.

“We are taking this action on behalf of the thousands of workers who are needlessly exposed to [STIs] during the production of adult films in California. We look forward to Cal/OSHA’s swift action on this issue,” said Michael Weinstein, AHF’s president.

According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LADPH), transmission of STIs is 10 times more likely to occur among adult film workers than the general population.

Between 2003 and 2007, LADPH documented 2,013 chlamydia cases and 965 gonorrhea cases among adult film workers. There have been at least 25 industry-related HIV cases since 2004.

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