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Posted: 6/12/2009 4:37:30 AM EDT
Porn Industry Hit With 16 Confirmed HIV Cases
Friday, June 12, 2009 Print ShareThisLOS ANGELES — Los Angeles County health officials say there have been 16 previously unpublicized confirmed cases of HIV in adult film industry performers since 2004 when an outbreak shut down porn production for a month. The county Department of Public Health data was requested by The Los Angeles Times and announced Thursday. The newly released data brings the number of known HIV cases in adult film performers to 22 since 2004, including a porn actress who tested positive late last week. The San Fernando Valley-based Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation announced Wednesday that an actress tested positive for HIV last Saturday. Adult film industry workers had described the new case as the first since 2004. Adult filmmakers in the U.S. now require that actors prove they have tested negative for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases within 30 days of going to work on a film. Still, the tests aren't foolproof, as was revealed this week when an actress who had passed an HIV test before making a film tested positive immediately afterward. That positive result was reported by the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation. Known in the industry as AIM, the organization tests hundreds of actors each month in the San Fernando Valley, where the U.S. porn industry is headquartered. It grants those who pass certificates allowing them to work. Although the woman's co-stars have tested negative, they have been quarantined from acting for the time being and advised to be retested in two weeks because medical experts say it takes almost that long for a person to show signs of infection. That means the woman's case should be a wake-up call to the adult film industry that it isn't doing enough to protect its performers, said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Health. He said the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health requires that safe sex be practiced on all adult movie sets. "But we have persistent reports that that is not the case," he said, adding his department receives an average of 15 reports a week from the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation of actors testing positive for other sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia. "That's obviously very disturbing," Fielding said. "I don't know of any other industry where people are subjected to that kind of risk." He called for the use of condoms on all adult films as one means of providing necessary worker safety. After an HIV outbreak in 2004 spread panic through the industry and briefly shut down production at several studios, many producers did indeed begin making condoms a requirement. But they said both actors and audiences quickly rebelled. "What happened was the talent didn't want to use condoms," said Steven Hirsch, co-Chief Executive of Vivid Entertainment Group, one of the multibillion-dollar industry's largest filmmakers. "They came to us and said repeatedly, 'Could we have choice?' ... As a result, we decided to go condom optional. Plus we're very comfortable with what AIM is doing with the 30-day testing." Late Thursday, county heath officials released data indicating that there were 16 previously unpublicized confirmed cases of HIV in adult film industry performers since 2004. That brings the number of known HIV cases in adult performers to 22 since 2004, according to the data requested and reported by The Los Angeles Times. AIM, founded by former porn star Sharon Mitchell, who left adult movies to earn a doctorate in human sexuality, maintains a computer database that film producers can check to determine that actors have passed their tests. Devereaux said this has reduced the forging of test certificates, something she said was more common during the '90s, a time when tests were required only every 90 days. The woman who tested positive hasn't been identified by AIM officials, but Fielding said he expected the foundation would turn her name over to county authorities soon and when it did they would counsel her and any of her sexual contacts. Mark Kernes, senior editor at the Adult Video News media network, said word in the industry is that she is an older woman who only acts occasionally in films targeted to young men's fantasies and thus is believed to have acquired the virus from a non-actor. He, like others, hopes it will spread no further. Like other businesses, the porn industry has been affected by the recession and the increasing availability of its product for free on the Internet. But it is still an enterprise that Kernes estimates generated $8 billion in revenue last year. With so much at stake, Hirsch said it makes sense that the industry would do everything it could to police itself. "People in our industry have sex for a living so they are hypersensitive when it comes to disease," he said. "If they're unable to work they are not making any money." He considered it significant that there has been only one confirmed case of HIV in the industry in the past five years, a period during which he estimated the business churned out as many as 100,000 films. "Look," he said, "I wish it would be zero. But it was only one and it was dealt with immediately. I believe it just proves the system works." http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,525929,00.html |
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Fielding said. "I don't know of any other industry where people are subjected to that kind of risk."
Well, no shit..... |
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I'm just shocked, I tell ya. I mean when they make stuff like "Double Anal Bukkake Harlots 5", I was just thinking they might spread a little herpes here and there.
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Shocking.
Who could have ever imagined that there would be STD transmission in an industry that essentially consists of male and female prostitutes screwing each other on film, usually without protection? How'd it ever come to this? John Holmes must be spinning in his grave. |
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I'm just shocked, I tell ya. I mean when they make stuff like "Double Anal Bukkake Harlots 5", I was just thinking they might spread a little herpes here and there. I just laughed out loud on a conference call while working with a customer. |
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Quoted: Shocking. Who could have ever imagined that there would be STD transmission in an industry that essentially consists of male and female prostitutes screwing each other on film, usually without protection? How'd it ever come to this? John Holmes must be spinning in his grave. He can't... he gets almost over to his stomach and then he's stuck there. |
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Quoted: Shocking. Who could have ever imagined that there would be STD transmission in an industry that essentially consists of male and female prostitutes screwing each other on film, usually without protection? How'd it ever come to this? John Holmes must be spinning in his grave. +2 points. Sarcasm + Holmes died of AIDS -1 point for not including lesbians in any mention of porn. Shameful. |
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'the actors first suspected something when they started looking like cauliflower from the waist down...'
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you cannot completely remove the bad consequences from bad behavior, as much as we humans like to try.
And condoms do not stop the spread of HIV. Microscopic holes in the latex are many times larger than the virus. Condoms have only been tested with regards to preventing pregnancy. The "condoms prevent STDs" statement is a myth. No one's ever done the test, perhaps because no one want's to volunteer to be the test subjects. |
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22 total over 5 years? doesnt seem like a lot for the amount of random sex going on...
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I'm just shocked, I tell ya. I mean when they make stuff like "Double Anal Bukkake Harlots 5", I was just thinking they might spread a little herpes here and there. coffee is now on my keyboard |
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I'm just shocked, I tell ya. I mean when they make stuff like "Double Anal Bukkake Harlots 5", I was just thinking they might spread a little herpes here and there. Guess you haven't realized what the nakadashi numerous partners means yet. |
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Shocking. Who could have ever imagined that there would be STD transmission in an industry that essentially consists of male and female prostitutes screwing each other on film, usually without protection? How'd it ever come to this? John Holmes must be spinning in his grave. He can't... he gets almost over to his stomach and then he's stuck there. I see what you did there! |
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Whewww....
Glad I opted out of participating in that gang bang video |
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The "condoms prevent STDs" statement is a myth. What? Where did you come up with this from? |
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I never wouldn't have seen this coming! (or would that be.....Nah)
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Wow! Thanks for posting this. I'm skipping this afternoon's shoot....
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Shocking. Who could have ever imagined that there would be STD transmission in an industry that essentially consists of male and female prostitutes screwing each other on film, usually without protection? How'd it ever come to this? John Holmes must be spinning in his grave. He can't... he gets almost over to his stomach and then he's stuck there. This combined with your username, rofl. |
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You're probably more likely to pick up an STD from the chick you met at the bar than on a film set I'd bet. The fact that this made news tells you how closely they monitor it in that industry.
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where is porn going anyway?
Folks used to get together and fuck for the camera and go home. Now the shoot isn't complete until the anus has been properly held open for the colon shot and then a glob of spit dropped in for good measure. Honestly, I think porn is getting down right dumb. And how do they not get sick from ecoli after the oral clean clean up following the butt hump? I say bring back Christy Canyon |
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You're probably more likely to pick up an STD from the chick you met at the bar than on a film set I'd bet. The fact that this made news tells you how closely they monitor it in that industry. right. Because these "actors" don't go out to bars and hook-up on their off days. The idea that the porn industry is "safe" is funny unless genital cauliflower and the other nasty shit is inconsequential. |
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I've always wondered why some of my favorite porn stars have stopped doing movies over the past few years. I think I now know why.
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I say bring back Christy Canyon And her wookie bush!!!! Tori Welles, too. |
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you cannot completely remove the bad consequences from bad behavior, as much as we humans like to try. And condoms do not stop the spread of HIV. Microscopic holes in the latex are many times larger than the virus. Condoms have only been tested with regards to preventing pregnancy. The "condoms prevent STDs" statement is a myth. No one's ever done the test, perhaps because no one want's to volunteer to be the test subjects. Anal creampies is, with damn few exceptions, where sexually transmitted AIDS comes from. Moral of the story for both ladies and gentlemen: don't let anyone stick his dick in your pooper and you'll be fine. John |
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"People in our industry have sex for a living so they are hypersensitive when it comes to disease," he said. "If they're unable to work live they are not making any money."
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Fielding said. "I don't know of any other industry where people are subjected to that kind of risk."
Well, no shit..... Well, there is one. |
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I don't know why this is a surprise to them, or anyone for that matter.
The more partners you engage with - the higher the likelihood that one of those partners has had sex with someone that has AIDS or some other significant STD. It sounds like a bunch of people are about to be out of a job. |
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Damn, someone posted it before me |
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guess CA is about to have more peopel on its welfare list.. bankrupt will be the word of the day
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This story is useless without a list of names so we can say "Oh damn, I just watched a clip of her last week... if I watched porn, I mean. If I did, I might recognize her name, and wonder if she was giving some dude AIDS right there before my eyes."
AIDS in porn kind of bring in a Roman gladiator aspect. |
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you cannot completely remove the bad consequences from bad behavior, as much as we humans like to try. And condoms do not stop the spread of HIV. Microscopic holes in the latex are many times larger than the virus. Condoms have only been tested with regards to preventing pregnancy. The "condoms prevent STDs" statement is a myth. No one's ever done the test, perhaps because no one want's to volunteer to be the test subjects. Anal creampies is, with damn few exceptions, where sexually transmitted AIDS comes from. Moral of the story for both ladies and gentlemen: don't let anyone stick his dick in your pooper and you'll be fine. John Your best bet if you want the ass is to wait til you're with the person you'll spend the rest of your life with,just randomly doing that with anybody is risky. Porn in general bores me to tears,even the sex sucks,no way in the seven hells I'd do all the shit they do Whatever happened to stick it in,fuck,cum,pull out? Well even the old porn bores me,I'd rather find a willing wench who wants to settle down with me and do it |
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... Tori Welles, too. I saw her live once. Poor little cumdumpster had delusions of being an entertainer... |
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