As part of its ongoing campaign to require the use of condoms in adult
films produced in California, AIDS
Healthcare Foundation (AHF) will file a petition today,
Thursday, December 17, at the final 2009 meeting of the California
Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board (Cal/OSHA) seeking an
amendment to California
Code of Regulations, Title 8, Section 5193 “Bloodborne Pathogens”.
Due to be presented by an AHF representative in person at today’s 10:00
A.M. meeting, the petition asks Cal/OSHA to clarify protections for
workers in the adult film industry and to explicitly include a condom
requirement. As reported by the Associated Press last night,
(“AIDS group wants rule requiring condoms in porn”) AHF says
“regulations to prevent the spread of bloodborne diseases in hospitals
should extend to adult film sets. The current regulations aren't clear
enough.”
The action has been prompted by the ongoing epidemic of
sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) in California’s adult film
industry. According to the Los Angeles County Department of Public
Health (LADPH), workers in the adult film industry are ten times more
likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease than members
of the population at large. LADPH documented 2,013 individual cases of
chlamydia and 965 cases of gonorrhea among workers between the years
2003 and 2007. LADPH has observed that many workers suffer multiple
infections, with some performers having four or more separate infections
over the course of a year. In addition, LADPH has stated that as many as
25 industry-related cases of HIV have been reported since 2004. Included
in the presentation will be two PowerPoint slideshows created by Peter
R. Kerndt, MD, MPH, Director, Sexually Transmitted Disease Program for
LADPH detailing the rampant epidemic of STDs in Los Angeles’ adult film
industry and the need for condoms to prevent disease transmission.
“AHF is filing this petition due to the inaction of the adult film
industry producers to comply with current Cal/OSHA regulations and to
take necessary steps to protect performers by providing and enforcing
the use of condoms during filming,” said Michael Weinstein,
President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Although workers in adult
films should enjoy protections under the current phrasing of the
regulation, the adult film industry has steadfastly refused to take any
steps to protect its workers from diseases spread by bloodborne
pathogens, resulting in thousands of employees becoming infected with
sexually transmitted diseases.”
Weinstein added: “We are taking this action on behalf of the thousands
of workers who are needlessly exposed to STDs during the production of
adult films in California. We look forward to Cal/OSHA’s swift action on
this issue.”
This past August, AHF filed sixteen worker-safety complaints with
Cal/OSHA over the lack of condom use in adult films made in California.
AHF supported its complaints with the submission of nearly 60 adult DVDs
filmed in California and in which the performers do not wear condoms.
The complaints asserted that the films demonstrated unsafe—potentially
life-threatening—behavior in a California workplace, as the sexual acts
filmed without participating performers using condoms depict the
unprotected exchange of bodily fluids.