CANOGA PARK, Calif.—The Free Speech Coalition has issued the following account of the Cal/OSHA subcommittee meeting that was held today in Oakland, Calif., to discuss medical protocols and blood-borne pathogen regulations for adult industry productions.
The FSC report is, as follow:
The meeting’s agenda was scheduled to cover several topics including barrier protection use by adult industry performers and also possible medical services protocols including vaccinations, periodic STD screening, and post-exposure protocols.
The CalOSHA Board of Directors and subcommittee members were also to discuss how current recommendations for regulation might be affected by various levels of barrier protection used during specific sex activities on adult sets.
Those in attendance at the meeting included industry attorney Paul Cambria and OSHA defense attorney Karen Tynan. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (LACDPH) Dr. Peter Kerndt also attended the meeting, as well as several representatives from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and also AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) clinician Shipla Sayana.
Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM) medical director Dr. H.A. Aranow attended as a member of the subcommittee. The San Francisco Department of Public Health was represented at the meeting by Director of Special Events Frank Strona. Adult producer and FSC Board member Steven Scarborough, founder of Hot House Entertainment, also attended the meeting.
Sources at the meeting reported that Dr. Kerndt mentioned the 2004 HIV incident involving several adult industry performers, as he has at previous CalOSHA meetings. Kerndt continued to staunchly recommend mandatory condoms and testing regulations for adult performers. Representatives from UCLA also encouraged the OSHA Board of Directors to mandate condom use and require adult producers to pay for STDs testing and vaccinations.
AIM’s Dr. Aranow pointed out that in the last five years there have been 72,000 STDs tests administered to adult industry performers, without a positive result for HIV (excepting the 2009 June incident, which prompted the mandatory condom campaign waged by HIV activist organization AHF). Dr. Aranow cited the current testing model as effective.
State Health Department representative Gail Bolan stated to the board that because of “sparse” data collected on the performing population that caution should be taken in reaching any conclusions for recommendations or regulations. Sources also stated that representatives from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) also seemed to take a more neutral position due to lack of data.
“The meeting moved along at the usual slow pace,” said attorney Tynan, who represents several adult production companies. “My concern is that CalOSHA continues to cater to AHF and rely on faulty data to create new regulations which are not reasonable nor are they feasible for our industry.”
She also stated that not all agenda items had been addressed and that the subcommittee had not discussed possible risks associated with specific sex acts.
Sources reported that the board appeared to reach a consensus concerning very limited risk of STDs transmission during oral sex without a condom, without internal ejaculation. However, the meeting was adjourned before they could approach the topics of anal or vaginal sex performances.
Industry attorney Cambria referred to the need for further discussion. “Progress made about no condoms for oral,” he said. “Clear sufficient data has not been established at this point to require mandatory condoms as [the] only answer rather than testing.”
“More important meetings to come with more input from adult industry,” Cambria added.
AVN Legal Editor Mark Kernes also was at the meeting and will provide his own firsthand account of the proceedings tomorrow.
