In a press release dated October 20, Adult Industry Medical healthcare foundation announced that effective immediately, they will stop accepting blood specimens by mail for PCR/DNA HIV testing. AIM will continue to offer anonymous tests by mail to the general public, but identified tests will be issued only if the blood sample is drawn at the AIM office.
Questions as to the legitimacy of the mailed-in tests were raised by talent advocate Greg Zeboray and others after AIM founder Miss Sharon Mitchell announced that AIM had cleared performer Sabrina Johnson after Johnson had FedExed a blood sample from her home in Belgium. Johnson worked with Tony Montana on a recent working trip to Los Angeles before Montana tested positive for HIV on October 7.
"Less than 10% of AIM's business is with the mail-in specimens," Mitchell told AVN before the press release was issued. "It's primarily for people who are out dancing on the road, so they don't miss their window period. They take our kit, which consists of the specimen release form, the specimen collection tube, the release form, and the doctor's order. The instructions say to include your drivers license and your Social Security. They take this kit to a hospital or a laboratory around the country and have the specimen drawn. There is also a slip of paper that is signed by the licensed person, saying that the IDs match the person of the blood they're drawing. It gets Special Specimen FedExed back to AIM Heathcare, and it gets processed for PCR/DNA.
"Most of the girls are already our girls anyway. The ID numbers match up [with what we have on file already]."
Sabrina Johnson technically continues on quarantine until she gets a local identified test. All other talent who have been cleared were tested on-premises, not by remote mail-in.
Greg Zeboray, a frequent critic of AIM, reacted to the announcement saying, "I think it's good news. My position was not an attack on Mitch or AIM, it was an attack on that practice, which I think was extremely bad for the industry.
