According to the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles County health officials are urging the state to regulate the adult entertainment industry, citing public health and workplace safety problems within the industry.
The move comes after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered an investigation by its health department into the industry after an expose written by L.A. Times staff writer P.J. Huffstutter. Many in the adult industry considered the article to be biased against pornography.
In a report issued last month the health department found that the industry poses a health risk to its workers as well as a public health concern to the general population. The report said that although several production companies require HIV tests, examinations for other sexually transmitted diseases "are not mandatory under current heterosexual industry protocols."
According to Huffstutter, health officials recommended state regulations that would specifically require adult industry performers to use condoms and be tested for a variety of sexually transmitted disease besides HIV.
Attorney Paul Cambria, who represents Hustler, Vivid Video and Wicked Pictures, among others, told the L.A. Times that the leading companies do require testing for sexually transmitted diseases among their workers.
"The largest companies in the industry are clearly interested in this issue," Cambria said.
The extent of infection among adult entertainment performers is unknown because no government or regulatory medical agency has consistently tracked the industry.
In tests administered by the Adult Industry Medical HealthCare Foundation clinic to 483 adults between October 2001 and March 2002, 40% tested positive for at least one sexually transmitted disease. The tests, conducted at the industry-backed Sherman Oaks clinic, found nearly 17% had chlamydia, 13% had gonorrhea and 10% had Hepatitis B or C.
The numbers dropped, however, during 2002. From January through October 2002, 7.9% of 353 women and 6.8% of 337 men tested positive for chlamydia. In addition, 2.7% of the 736 people tested for gonorrhea came up positive.
There were no cases of active heterosexual talent having AIDS during this time.
Interestingly mainstream society has seen an increase in chlamydia cases of 37% from 1997-2001, with a 32% increase in gonorrhea during the same time period. Figures for 2002 are not available yet. For 2001, Los Angeles led the nation in chlamydia cases, accounting for nearly half of all document cases.
Currently, there is no government agency that oversees the adult industry, although the health department feels that the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA may have some power of the industry.
The county report points out that two sections of the California labor code regulate exposure to blood-borne pathogens, and require employers to have written plans to protect their workers and provide them with protective equipment applicable to the hazards of the job.
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