genderberg.com - Two porn companies fined for allowing unprotected sex on set

Friday, September 17, 2004
(09-17) 01:37 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --
State officials have taken unprecedented regulatory action against the porn industry, fining two adult film companies more than $30,000 each for allegedly allowing actors to perform unprotected sex.

The citations against Evasive Angles and TTB Productions, which share the same address in the San Fernando Valley, come after an HIV outbreak earlier this year involving four actors and forcing a temporary shutdown of adult film production in Southern California.
The state Division of Occupational Health and Safety said after the outbreak that it would begin investigating the industry to determine whether it complied with state health and worker safety laws.
The companies received citations for violating the state's blood borne pathogen standard, a regulation that requires employers to protect workers exposed to blood or bodily fluids on the job. The companies have 15 days to appeal the eight citations.
"What this means is that any employer whose workers are exposed to any potentially infectious material, such as semen or vaginal fluids, must follow state regulations covering workplaces," said Susan Gard, a spokeswoman for Cal-OSHA, which issued the sanctions Wednesday. "Any bodily fluid is considered infectious. That means barrier equipment must be used."
Officials at Evasive Angles and TTB Productions could not be reached for comment early Friday.
The citations also accuse the companies of failing to notify authorities about actors who contracted HIV on the job, as the law requires. The producers also failed to have a written injury prevention program and report a workplace accident to state officials within eight hours, as required by state law, agency officials said.
The citations were the culmination of a months-long investigation of a complaint filed by a porn industry worker whom the agency declined to identify, citing confidentiality.
Health officials have been urging adult film producers to require that all actors practice safe sex during filming, including wearing condoms. It is a widely held belief among producers that showing condom use in their films would hurt profits because the customers do not want to see safe sex.
The Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation, a nonprofit group that conducts sexually transmitted disease testing for the porn industry, said only about 17 percent of actors use condoms on a regular basis. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information from: Los Angeles Times, www.latimes.com