CHATSWORTH, Calif.—Adult performer testing facility Cutting Edge Testing (CET) announced Monday that effective immediately, it will no longer be providing its test results to the centralized screening database maintained by Performer Availability Screening Service (PASS).
CET made the announcement via Twitter just past 11:30 a.m. Monday, with no explanation as to the reasoning behind the move. "Starting from 7.12.21 CET will no longer participate in the PASS system," the facility's tweet read. "To make sure we continue delivering the best service possible. CET now offers the CETTPS which allows the agent and the producers to confirm the talent results confidentially with a simple pass/fail system."
In two subsequent tweets, the facility noted: "Everyone that tested with CET today the 12th will still be entered on PASS today" and "The CETTPS Cutting Edge Testing Test Panel System website is tests.cuttingedgetesting.com to all producers and agents please contact the main Headquarters office in Sherman Oaks to get started on a user log in and password."
AVN reached out to CET to inquire about the motivation for this decision, and received the following response Monday evening from clinic director Dr. Peter Miao, mostly rehashing the above tweeted statements: "CET is withdrawing from the PASS system as of today. We do not agree entirely with the PASS system in terms of vaccination status and COVID testing. A system named CETTPS (Cutting Edge Testing Talent Panel System) is being used to allow us to service the entire community regarding testing results and availability to work."
PASS at roughly 2:45 p.m. tweeted its own statement in response CET's announcement, which read as follows: "This morning, we learned by tweet that CET will no longer be uploading test results to the PASS database. This is concerning, but as a nonprofit organization dealing with for-profit labs, it was always a possibility. We're disappointed in their move, which is unfair to performers. We're working on immediate and long-term solutions. However, CET and TTS [Talent Testing Service] are still using the PASS Certified protocol, and it is currently safe to continue to test there.
"When labs pull out of the PASS database, they reject nonprofit industry oversight and performers and producers lose a central place to check availability," the PASS statement continued. "While this is a challenge, we use this to strengthen PASS, not abandon it. We are currently reaching out to discuss this with stakeholders and partners. We will update you as we have more information, and will be hosting a town hall meeting later this week to discuss the next steps."
This development mirrors the actions over one year ago, in June 2020, of TTS—the primary competing testing provider to CET within the adult space—which at the time cited similar concerns over PASS protocols regarding COVID statuses among adult talent and crew. Dr. Miao's statement to AVN today, however, would seem to indicate that CET's withdrawal from PASS comes in response to the latter's announcement early last month that it no longer recommends COVID testing for those on adult sets who have been fully vaccinated for the disease.
Following TTS' exit from PASS—at which time PASS operated as a subsidiary of the Free Speech Coalition (it recently became incorporated as its own standalone entity)—FSC executive director Michelle L. LeBlanc expressed concern over the potential harm that could result from the decentralization of testing results in the event of a major STI outbreak among the talent pool.
"PASS is a centralized system that uses multiple labs, and has strong connections with the adult industry, and a well-established and transparent process for calling and lifting holds," LeBlanc said at the time. "A production hold isn't a simple matter of alerting the media and ordering retests—it's a complicated, multipronged coordination between all stakeholders in the industry which is incredibly time intensive, and fraught with risk to the performer pool. ... PASS doesn't have any financial stake in the testing system. PASS was designed to avoid conflicts of interest like profit or market share."
AVN will report more details on what this development means for PASS protocols moving forward as they become available.
