Maybe someone at Freeones can shed further light on this 
Aids fears force shutdown of LA porn film industry after star tests HIV positive
* Studios will stop filming while more tests are conducted
* Scare comes weeks after bid for stars to wear condoms
* Testing crisis as screening service closes amid lawsuit
Fears that porn stars are at risk of Aids has forced the shutdown of the world’s biggest production centre for X-rated movies after a performer tested HIV positive.
Studios in Los Angeles yesterday agreed to stop filming while more tests are carried out on actors after the unnamed star was found to have the sexually transmitted disease during a routine examination.
It comes just weeks after campaigners launched a petition to change the city’s law and force adult movie actors to wear condoms.
Porn set: The infected actor is feared to have passed HIV on to other stars (file picture does not contain any infected actors)
Campaign: The Aids scare comes weeks after HIV-positive former adult film performer Derrick Burts (pictured) launched a bid to force stars to wear condoms
The crusade is being led by former star, Derrick Burts, who last year contracted HIV, which causes Aids.
The $14billion-a-year industry also faces a testing crisis after the service screened actors’ blood for more than a decade closed in May after being sued for allegedly revealing private medical information.
Responsibility for the 30-day testing programme has been shifted from the AIM Medical Associates to the porn industry’s trade group, the Free Speech Coalition.
Last month, the group-operated Adult Performer Health and Safety Services launched a new testing database, which is designed to provide porn producers and agents with access to results from numerous testing facilities.
The new system will show only whether performers are available for work, not their specific test results, as AIM had done.
But, casting doubt on the robustness of the industry’s voluntary testing arrangement, FSC director Diane Duke admitted it would be at least another month before the database is fully functional.
Also complicating the issue, it emerged that the HIV-positive star, whose age, name and gender have not been revealed, was tested at an out-of-state facility.
Miss Duke said the unspecified centre ‘that does not appear to have protocols or procedures in place for medical follow-up.’
In response yesterday, all of LA’s porn producers, including those at well-known studios such as Hustler Video and Evil Angel, agreed to the temporary shutdown.
The FSC is now notifying actors known to have had sex with the potentially infected star so they could get tested, she said.
‘Retesting and confirmation is underway as is the process of identifying and testing first- and second-generation partners,’ Miss Duke told the Los Angeles Times.
‘Until we know for sure, we've asked the industry to have a moratorium on production.’
Yesterday, California and LA County health officials said they had not received any reports of new HIV cases among adult performers.
Current voluntary standards adopted by the porn industry in California mean adult film performers must be tested every 30 days and show proof of a negative test before they perform.
AIM officials, who opened the Sherman Oaks-based clinic in 1998, had been criticised for opposing condom use in porn films and insisting that frequent tests could protect performers from HIV.
Crusade: Mr Burts is joined by Aids Healthcare Foundation president Michael Weinstein (to his right) and fellow porn actors, including Darren James (far right), who contracted HIV while working in the industry
They continued to defend their position even after performer Mr Burts tested HIV-positive at one of its clinics last year.
The star has since joined an effort by the Los Angeles-based Aids Healthcare Foundation to get a measure placed on the city's June 2012 ballot that would require LA adult film performers to use condoms in order for porn filmmakers to obtain film permits.
If they obtain at least 41,138 qualifying signatures on a petition by December 23, voters will have the chance to force the munincipal government to adopt the law.
If they succeed, it will be the first time the issue would come before voters.
Aids Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said the latest HIV case shows why testing is not an adequate substitute for condoms, adding that the latest reported infection shows an ‘outrageous disregard for the health and safety of performers and the community at large.’
He also called on Los Angeles city officials to take an additional step to the voluntary moratorium and pull all adult film permits until they can require performers to use condoms.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ts-star-tests-HIV-positive.html#ixzz1WW5Hnal2
