July 20, 2009

Lawsuit: LA County Too Lax on HIV Prevention in Porn Industry

A petition filed by the Los Angeles–based AIDS Healthcare Foundation is urging the LA County Supreme Court to require that county health officials enforce stricter condom regulations and safety measures in the porn industry to better prevent transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among adult-film performers, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The petition comes one month after a porn actress tested HIV positive, prompting health officials to release data that 18 HIV cases and more than 3,700 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis have been reported since 2004 by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, a clinic that primarily serves porn actors and actresses. It is not known, however, if any or all of these cases were active performers. County officials have declined to provide details on these cases or investigate the issue further.

“We’re the porn capital of the world, and it’s clear that the county has no intention of making these sets safer or of protecting the rest of the community from the diseases that are being spread in the production of these films,” said Michael Weinstein, president and chief executive of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “You cannot conduct public health in a fashion where you won’t speak publicly about an issue.”

The department of health issued a statement July 16 in response to this call for legal action.

“The county continues to strongly support state legislation and the regulatory role of Cal/OSHA [the state’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration] as the most appropriate means to regulate the practices in the adult-film industry that expose performers to unnecessary and preventable occupational risks of acquiring and transmitting these diseases,” the statement read. “The department does not believe that litigation is the best means to deal with this issue.”

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Michelle Johnson, St. Louis, 2009-07-24 13:44:50
In the article they state that AIM clinics can pickup HIV infection 9-11 days after potential infection. What test is being performed???