Porn Group Wants To Halt Adult Film Production Pending Syphilis Probe
A pornography trade group would like to halt production across the nation until a proper investigation into a recent outbreak of syphilis in Los Angeles has been completed. According to The Associated Press, Free Speech Coalition spokesperson Joanne Cachapero explained that one performer has already tested positive for the sexually transmitted disease. As a result, all of the actor’s recent partners are being informed of individual’s condition.
Just last week, The Los Angeles County Public Health Department investigated five possible cases of syphilis, though officials would not immediately comment on the case. Should the self-imposed moratorium go into effect, then the entire billion-dollar industry would effectively be put on hold until the investigation has been completed.
CNBC reports that this is the third time in three years that the porn industry has been shut down due to a performer becoming infected with a potentially fatal disease. In an effort to control the spread of STDs throughout the industry, The Los Angeles City Council voted to make condoms a requirement on pornographic pictures filmed within city limits. However, officials have yet to enforce the ordinance.
Contrary to what their critics would have you believe, production companies feel they do a good job screening actors for diseases. However, in this particular case, the performer allegedly obscured the syphilis test results on the documents he submitted to directors. After one filmmaker became suspicious, the performer finally admitted that he had tested positive for the disease.
Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, believes the adult film industry isn’t doing enough to stop the spread of sexually transmitted disease among actors. “If we look at the fact that syphilis has up to a 90-day incubation period and the fact that the industry only tests these employees every six months … a person could go as long as nine months without being diagnosed,” he explained to The Los Angeles Times.
Generally, the industry doesn’t shut down production unless there is a confirmed case of HIV. However, since this actor worked on several scenes with doctored test results, there are genuine concerns that the disease could have spread to other actors.
However, since most companies can produce upwards of five movies per month, it’s believed that many are sitting on a pile of unreleased material. As such, most should be able to ride out the syphilis probe by diving into their stockpile.
