Positive HIV Test Shuts Down Adult Film Industry

An adult film industry trade group Monday called for a halt to all pornography production after the group received information that an active performer had tested positive for HIV.

Much of the pornography is filmed in Chatsworth.

"According to the information that is available, the performer in question may have tested positive for HIV at a testing facility that does not appear to have protocols or procedures in place for medical follow-up (including generational testing)," the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) announced in a statement released to adult film producers.

Well-known studios such as Hustler and Evil Angel agreed to the temporary shutdown, the Los Angeles Times reported.

FSC did not release any details about the performer's name, age or gender.

"Retesting and confirmation is under way as is the process of identifying and testing first- and second-generation partners," FSC Executive Director Diane Duke told the Times.

In May, the Sherman Oaks-based Adult Industry Medical Foundation (AIM) shut down. The clinic had been a centralized location for pornography industry testing and left it without an industry-related clinic for testing for sexually transmitted diseases. In the wake of the AIM shutdown, FSC began administering its own testing regimen last month through Adult Production Health and Safety Services. The service offers a variety of testing sites and gives performers online access to results from the labs. 

Performers, producers and agents also have access to a database of test results.

The Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation that it launched at Universal City which called for a measure on the June 2012 city ballot that would require adult film performers to use condoms in order to receive a production permit from the city.

Calls to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health were not
immediately returned.

-- City News Service