Porn Film Safety Crackdown Sought

Health officials asked the state to investigate two cases of HIV infection in the pornographic film industry and to consider applying workplace safety laws to adult movie sets.

The discovery last week that two performers, one male and one female, are HIV-positive also could prompt the industry or government to consider mandating the use of condoms during filming, said Peter Kerndt, director of the sexually transmitted disease program for the Los Angeles County health department.

That would be an overreaction, said Kat Sunlove, executive director of the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry.

"Do we really want condom police?" she asked Tuesday. "We've had two, count them two, positives in five years. In the general population, we have two a day or more."

Some observers said regulation might force the once-forbidden industry back into the shadows or even out of state.

"Probably the reality is they would go underground, which just raises the risk" of disease, said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp.

About 200 producers take in billions of dollars making thousands of adult movies each year. Many involve unprotected sex, and more than 60 performers who had contact with the two infected actors have been barred by the industry from working until their next blood tests are complete. Some companies have halted production for now.

"This is an industry that's been largely ignored. We don't really know how many people have been exposed and infected in the course of their employment," said Kerndt.

Darren James had on-camera sex with more than a dozen actresses before his latest blood test last week showed he was HIV-positive. One actress, Lara Roxx, also has tested HIV positive.

More than 60 performers who had contact with them have been barred by the industry from working until their next blood tests are completed. At least 30 production companies have halted production, some indefinitely.

James apparently contracted the disease last month while making a movie in Brazil, said Sharon Mitchell, executive director of the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation.

James could not be reached for comment Tuesday. The industry news magazine AVN reported that he was "laying low" in San Diego.

Roxx, 22, told AVN she was broke and has been staying with friends in Los Angeles. Her test results "totally freaked me out," she said.

The Canadian said she knew she was performing a particularly risky form of unprotected sex during a March 24 movie shoot with James.

"But I was just putting it way back in my mind because I was down in California to make the maximum amount of money, to come back home wealthy," she said. "It isn't a safe business, and I thought it was. ... I thought porn people were the cleanest people in the world."

The county health department wants the state's Division of Occupational Health and Safety (Cal-OSHA) to investigate workplace conditions at production companies that employed the male performer first found to be HIV-positive.

California's worker safety laws don't specifically cover the adult movie industry, but Cal-OSHA may have jurisdiction to enforce two general regulations. Employers must have a written plan for injury and illness prevention, and they must provide protection for workers who could be exposed to disease-infected blood or other fluids.

The second regulation has been applied to nurses, janitors and housekeepers, among others, Cal-OSHA spokeswoman Susan Gard said.

"We haven't done any inspections in the adult entertainment industry," said Gard, who wouldn't rule out the possibility that state investigators could go onto film sets.

"I think self-regulation is best," said Steven Hirsch, co-chairman of Vivid Entertainment, the largest adult entertainment company. Vivid has required condom use in its pictures for the past 6½ years.

"The best scenario would be for producers and talent to make the decision they will only work with mandatory testing and mandatory condom use," he said.

Health officials agree the industry has a good record of self-regulation. Its last HIV scare was in 1999 and involved a single case. The industry standard requires porn performers to have HIV tests every three weeks.

"It may be good; it's not perfect," Kerndt responded. "I would regard any infection where exposure occurred without a condom to be a failure."

Condoms generally are used in gay adult movies, where Kerndt said as many as half the actors may be HIV-positive.

Gard said before Cal-OSHA can investigate the production companies that used James, it must determine whether he was an employee. Most porn performers are independent contractors, which agency regulations don't cover.

However, even if they are independent, "you don't give away your rights to a safe work environment just because you're a contractor," Kerndt said.

If the employer is found to have exposed workers to a life-threatening disease, the agency could issue fines of up to $25,000 for each incident, Gard said.