Vivid, a condom-optional company, follows standard industry procedure requiring talent to show a clean test within the last 30 days before working. Most porn production companies have partnered with AIM, which gives producers access to an online database of performers' test results.
But public health officials caution that the testing protocol does not adequately protect against transmission of diseases. The male porn star at the center of the 2004 outbreak, for example, had tested negative for HIV just days before working and spreading the virus to three female performers.
Actress Belladonna, 28, star of more than 250 adult films, said she believes the industry needs more rigorous testing.
"I don't think 30 days is good enough," she said during a break from signing autographs at Erotica LA. "This is our bodies, our life, our work."
Still, she described her work as safe even though she does not use condoms.
Jessica Drake, an actress for Wicked Entertainment, said she also "finds comfort in the testing system we have set up." But she said she always uses a condom in filming and works for the industry's only heterosexual condom-mandatory production company. "Safe-sex practices definitely help me feel a lot more comfortable," Drake said. "And I've told many a new girl, 'Don't let anyone tell you you can't make a career [using condoms]. Stand your ground.' As a personal preference, that's what I believe."
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kimi.yoshino@latimes.com
ron.lin@latimes.com
