More Porn Productions Shut Down After HIV Scare

[TheGeneral+]

Some Adult Movie Performers Willing To Work

About a dozen porn production companies have halted shooting until at least June 8. Two companies said they were halting work indefinitely.

The Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation said the number of people potentially exposed to the AIDS virus has grown to 65. Their names are posted on industry quarantine sites that effectively prevent them from working for two months, until their next HIV tests are completed.

It was announced earlier this week that actor Darren James and actress Laura Roxx, who worked with James, had tested positive for HIV.

Southern California's porn industry, which is centered in the San Fernando Valley, generates sales of between $4 billion and $13 billion a year.

Some adult movie actors said they are willing to keep working in the industry despite the HIV scare.

http://www.thesandiegochannel.com

 

[nysports]

Gen

Does this mean you're on vacation for a couple of months? LOL.

 

[TheGeneral+]

I tried to fight it, but I was told I was high risk.

 

[TheGeneral+]

A fourth adult movie performer employed by San Fernando Valley porn industry has tested positive for the AIDS virus in an outbreak that has halted most production in the multibillion dollar business, according to Web site for a nonprofit organization that tests the actors for HIV.

The actor, a transsexual named "Jennifer," was diagnosed Tuesday in a case that appeared to be unrelated to the others, according to the statement posted late Tuesday by the Adult Industry Medical Health Care Foundation.

The actor's two on-screen partners -- identified as "Jaegger" and "Dex" -- have both tested negative at least once since their last sexual encounter with the actor on Feb. 27. A second round of results for the two partners are expected Wednesday, the site said.

Darren James and Lara Roxx tested positive for HIV three weeks ago. Last week, a third actor -- a 26-year-old Czech woman -- was diagnosed with the AIDS virus.

The cases prompted a voluntary quarantine of more than 50 people who had worked with the actors and about 30 film companies -- most in the San Fernando Valley -- have temporarily halted production.

James apparently contracted HIV while filming unprotected sex scenes in Brazil. He returned to the United States and infected performer Roxx during film shoots, health officials have said.

The case announced Tuesday appeared to be unrelated to the others because the actor has not worked in the porn industry since Feb. 27, the site said.

"This case is unrelated to the ones above as Jennifer did not work in the industry since this encounter on 2-27-04 and her partners did not work with anyone on the aforementioned quarantine list. AIM considers this to be an open and shut case," the statement read.

AIM is run by former porn star Sharon Mitchell, who also holds a doctorate in human sexuality. Since the organization opened in 1998, Mitchell has provided testing for sexually transmitted diseases along with drug and psychological counseling for porn performers.

It was those tests that first revealed James' HIV-positive status.

Brazilian authorities are reportedly testing yet another actress whose work with transsexuals might have been the source of James' infection, the Times reported.

The last HIV scare in the porn industry was in 1999 and involved a single case.

http://sfgate.com

 

[RobFunk]

god damn lara roxx is ugly. . .nice little bod though

 

[Mr NJ Sports]

Thankfully Ron Jeremy got a job coaching the Miami Heat

 

[TheGeneral+]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A veteran porn actress on Wednesday became the fifth adult film performer in Los Angeles to test positive for HIV since an industrywide quarantine went into effect last month to stop the spread of the potentially deadly virus, an industry health care official said.

The actress was one of 14 performers who worked directly with actor Darren James, a longtime porn performer who is believed to be the source of the outbreak.

The latest diagnosis marks the largest outbreak of the AIDS virus in Southern California's porn industry in six years.

The AIDS scare has prompted a virtual shutdown of adult film production in recent weeks and raised the prospect of tighter regulation on an industry, which has long thrived on Hollywood's fringes in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles.

James may have contracted the virus while filming in Brazil on a "non-condom" set in March and has passed it to at least three of his co-stars, said Sharon Mitchell, who runs the HIV screening program for the Adult Industry Medical Foundation.

The woman's name was not made public but Mitchell described her as "an actress working in the industry for several years."

"She had a good head on shoulders and was well prepared for this diagnosis," said Mitchell, a former porn actress with a doctorate in public health. "She did realize that HIV was an occupational hazard."

The woman was one of about 50 porn actors under a 60-day quarantine because they had worked directly with James or with the women who had onscreen sex with him after his suspected exposure to the HIV virus.

The partners of the latest actress to test HIV-positive have already tested negative once, but will be monitored for another 30 days to ensure that they are not carrying the disease, Mitchell said.

"This is the benefit of containment," Mitchell said. "They haven't been out working. They have been under quarantine."

In an unrelated case, a transsexual porn actress whose stage name is Jennifer tested positive for HIV on Tuesday. Her only two partners returned negative tests on Wednesday, indicating the virus had spread no further, Mitchell said.

Mitchell has advocated a moratorium on filming until the quarantine is lifted on June 8 but not all of the 200 or so production companies that comprise the multibillion-dollar industry have complied.

She said the last major outbreak of AIDS in the industry, which employs about 1,200 actors, occurred in 1998 when six people tested positive for HIV. There was an additional case the following year and none since then until James tested positive for the virus in mid-April.

The latest HIV outbreak prompted calls for unprecedented inspection of film shoots and mandatory condom use -- proposals that critics said would drive the industry underground or out of state.

http://www.reuters.com

 

[Mr NJ Sports]

I rented a new porno. "Debbie does no one"

 

[Phaedrus]

Well, there's only one thing to do now that the porn shops are all closing down ...


Phaedrus

 

[RIOSHILL]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Mr NJ Sports:
Thankfully Ron Jeremy got a job coaching the Miami Heat<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
lol

 

[max1234]

Now I see why Identity is trying to borrow money....

 

[TheGeneral+]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A self-imposed moratorium on filming in the Los Angeles porn industry brought in after five actors tested positive for HIV was lifted on Wednesday, a month earlier than expected.

"Many of the talent who have been quarantined for the last 30 days can safely return to work after several batteries of tests (for HIV) were performed," the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, or AIM, which runs an HIV-screening program for the industry, said on its Web site.

California's multibillion dollar adult film industry, which employs some 6,000 people mostly in the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, imposed a voluntary 60-day shutdown on porn film production last month.

AIM director Sharon Mitchell told Adult Video News that about half of the 50 porn actors under quarantine had been cleared after testing negative three times in 45 days.

She said the moratorium could be lifted. "If you are not shooting any of the people still under the quarantine list, then I see no reason not to start shooting again," Mitchell told Adult Video News.

Five actors have tested positive for HIV in the biggest outbreak of the AIDS virus in Southern California's porn industry since 1998. They included an actor and three actresses who worked with him without using condoms. The fifth person was a transsexual performer unrelated to the other cases.

Most of the 200 or so production companies complied with the moratorium, which prompted calls for mandatory condom use and inspections of film shoots -- proposals that critics said would drive the industry underground.

http://www.reuters.com

 

[TheGeneral+]

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The nation's top adult movie maker has resumed production nearly a month after five performers were infected with HIV, shutting down much of the multibillion-dollar porn industry.

Vivid Entertainment Group started filming again Saturday, said the company's production manager, Shailar.

"It's over. Business is looking up," said Tim Connelly, publisher of the industry online magazine AVN.

Dozens of companies have taken part in a voluntary moratorium pending HIV testing since actor Darren James apparently contracted the virus that causes AIDS in March while shooting a movie in Brazil.

About 50 people who performed with James or those he worked with were put on a voluntary quarantine list that effectively prevented them from doing sex scenes until they had passed two monthly HIV tests. Twenty have been cleared to work.

The outbreak led to an investigation by California's workplace safety agency and calls for state regulation of the largely self-regulating industry.

A 20-year-old porn actress who identified herself only as Brooke said the HIV scare prompted her to give up unprotected sex scenes.

"I know that a lot of people don't want to see condoms, but I would like to see tomorrow," she said.

While many in the industry support voluntary condom use, most oppose making it a law on grounds that it would drive the business underground.

Some of the larger production companies, such as Vivid Entertainment and Wicked Pictures, require condom use. The industry also relies on monthly HIV tests administered by the nonprofit Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation.

But Los Angeles County health officials said there should be mandatory use of condoms for adult films.

"The moratorium is ending without the introduction of the safest protection measures we have," health officer Jonathan Fielding said.

It's estimated that as many as 4,000 new videos and thousands of compilations are made each year in the porn industry. Estimates on the economic power of the industry vary from $4.4 billion to as much as $10 billion.

Vivid Entertainment makes more than 50 adult films each year and releases dozens of compilations.

http://www.mlive.com