Los Angeles County health officials have called on the state to more vigorously regulate the local adult-film business, acknowledging public health and workplace safety problems in the industry.
The move comes after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered an investigation by its health department into the industry, which is predominantly based in the San Fernando Valley.
The health department, in a Feb. 27 report, found that the industry poses a health risk to its workers as well as a public health concern to the general population. The report said that although several production companies require HIV tests, examinations for other sexually transmitted diseases "are not mandatory under current heterosexual industry protocols."
Health officials recommended that the Board of Supervisors seek state regulations that would specifically require adult-film actors to use condoms and be tested for a variety of communicable diseases, including HIV and hepatitis.
The review, led by Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, came on the heels of a Times article that found adult film stars work in an industry that is legal, yet unregulated by local, state or federal agencies that could help prevent exposure to a host of infectious, and sometimes fatal, diseases.
Attorney Paul Cambria, who represents adult-film producers Hustler, Vivid Video and Wicked Pictures, among others, insists that the leading companies do require testing for sexually transmitted diseases among their workers.
"The largest companies in the industry are clearly interested in this issue," Cambria said.
The extent of infection among adult entertainment performers is unknown because no government or regulatory medical agency has consistently tracked the industry.
In tests administered by the Adult Industry Medical HealthCare Foundation clinic to 483 adults between October 2001 and March 2002, 40% tested positive for at least one sexually transmitted disease. The tests, conducted at the industry-backed Sherman Oaks clinic, found nearly 17% had chlamydia, 13% had gonorrhea and 10% had Hepatitis B or C.
The numbers dropped, however, during 2002. From January through October 2002, 7.9% of 353 women and 6.8% of 337 men tested positive for chlamydia. In addition, 2.7% of the 736 people tested for gonorrhea came up positive.
No one tested positive for HIV during either period, according to foundation officials.
