Aids Healthcare Foundation

Bob Costas, the television sports analyst widely considered one of the best in the country, was no different from many athletes, sports fans and basketball experts 20 years ago Monday when Magic Johnson held a news conference to tell the world he was HIV-positive. "I was stunned," Costas said, "and my immediate thought was, knowing what we thought we knew about HIV, we would watch Magic Johnson die a public death, that he would waste away. This was what we thought we understood about the virus, that his days were numbered.

In a significant defeat for the adult film industry, the Los Angeles City Council has given final approval to a city ordinance requiring porn actors to wear condoms while performing. The 9-1 vote Tuesday marks a significant victory for the L.A.-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which has been rallying for years to protect the health of porn actors by asking agencies in California to mandate condom use during film shoots. In the past decade, porn shoots have been suspended several times after high-profile cases of porn performers infected by HIV. "It's a great day for the performers and safer sex in our society," said an ebullient Michael Weinstein, president of the foundation, which has been waging a largely lonely battle for mandatory condom use for years.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that treats people with HIV and AIDS around the world, has filed a lawsuit accusing pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of overcharging for medication. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the group accused Bristol-Myers of failing to follow federal law that limited the amount it could charge certain groups ? including charities treating people with HIV and AIDS. The lawsuit said Bristol-Myers overcharged the group more than $124,000 from January to June of this year.

Bob Costas, the television sports analyst widely considered one of the best in the country, was no different from many athletes, sports fans and basketball experts 20 years ago Monday when Magic Johnson held a news conference to tell the world he was HIV-positive. "I was stunned," Costas said, "and my immediate thought was, knowing what we thought we knew about HIV, we would watch Magic Johnson die a public death, that he would waste away. This was what we thought we understood about the virus, that his days were numbered.

There have been AIDS walks, AIDS shows, AIDS dinners, AIDS concerts, AIDS recordings and even AIDS auctions. But until this weekend, there has never been an AIDS "cablethon."

An advocacy group that has been demanding greater government protections for adult film performers plans to file a complaint Thursday with state regulators against nine Los Angeles-area porn talent agencies.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is seeking volunteers to help in its Hollywood clinic. Volunteers are needed a few hours each week to help answer telephones and do other office work. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation provides medical and hospice care to people with HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome. Information: (213) 462-2273.

A local AIDS health center has received $50,000 from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit support service organization specializing in care for women who are HIV-positive, will use the money for its outpatient clinical services. "This generous grant from the Elton John AIDS Foundation allows us to continue and expand our work of providing quality medical care to women," said Dr. Charles Farthing, medical director of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

Volunteers are needed to help answer phones and do other light office work at the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Downtown clinic, 1414 S. Grand Ave. The clinic, which opened last summer on the campus of California Medical Center, offers a range of services, from HIV diagnosis and medical care for those at the earliest stages of infection to inpatient AIDS care.

The Milagros AIDS Project and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Latino AIDS Project will collaborate to serve East Los Angeles. Milagros will provide space at its South Goodrich Boulevard offices for Latino AIDS Project staff members. Milagros caseworkers will coordinate the services with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said Program Director Henry Alonso. Milagros has focused on social services while the AIDS Healthcare Foundation concentrates on medical needs for people with HIV.

In a move that has angered physicians and AIDS activists, Los Angeles County may shake up the management of its sexually transmitted disease program, which has aggressively investigated the spread of HIV among porn performers. Critics say the proposed change could weaken efforts to halt the spread of HIV in the Los Angeles-based, $12-billion-a-year porn industry. "This appears to be a political move which could significantly interfere with disease control activities," said Dr. Gary Richwald, who headed the STD program between 1989 and 2000.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that treats people with HIV and AIDS around the world, has filed a lawsuit accusing pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. of overcharging for medication. In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the group accused Bristol-Myers of failing to follow federal law that limited the amount it could charge certain groups ? including charities treating people with HIV and AIDS. The lawsuit said Bristol-Myers overcharged the group more than $124,000 from January to June of this year.

Federal officials are investigating whether a clinic that tests adult film performers for sexually transmitted diseases violated their privacy by requiring them to sign overly broad disclosure agreements. Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, a San Fernando-based clinic, is being investigated by the regional civil rights office of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in San Francisco, according to a federal spokesman. The investigation was prompted by a complaint by AIDS Healthcare Foundation, a Los Angeles-based group that has advocated for condom use and increased testing among porn performers.

An advocacy group that has been demanding greater government protections for adult film performers plans to file a complaint Thursday with state regulators against nine Los Angeles-area porn talent agencies.

Los Angeles County officials Tuesday rebuffed demands from an AIDS activist group that the county immediately require performers in porn films to use condoms. County officials said the California Legislature would need to approve legislation requiring condom use for pornography shoots. They said it would be difficult to try to regulate the porn industry through the county's Public Health Department. "It is very, very difficult to implement. There are roughly 200 production companies with about . . . 1,200 actors," said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's public health chief.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking a court order to compel county public health officials to require condom use on porn sets or take other reasonable steps to stem the spread of disease. The petition, filed by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, contended that the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has "passively observed an ever-growing epidemic" within the porn industry. "Words alone cannot fight disease," the petition said.

While still recovering from recent surgery to remove a benign brain tumor, Elizabeth Taylor, through her Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, has donated $100,000 to the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation. The gift is designated for the Treatment=Life Program, which provides the latest medications to those who can otherwise not afford them.

Vowing "never to stop pushing" for condom use in porn, AIDS Healthcare Foundation officials said Wednesday that they plan to file complaints today with state officials against 16 California-based production companies they say have violated workplace safety laws. The complaints will mark the latest move by the Los Angeles-based advocacy group to pressure the porn industry and government regulators to do more to safeguard the health of adult-film performers. The foundation sued Los Angeles County last month alleging that public health officials had failed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and to enforce laws requiring employers to protect workers against exposure to bodily fluids.

A prominent AIDS advocacy group filed a petition in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Thursday alleging that county public health officials have failed to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in the pornographic film industry.