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AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)
plans to file “Notice of Safety or Health Hazards” complaints with California’s
Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health
(Cal/OSHA) about the lack of condom use in adult films made by the film
production company Treasure Island Media, Inc., which produces films for the
gay market. AHF has named the owner and general manager of the company in the
complaint.
AHS officials reviewed 11 adult DVDs
produced and/or distributed by Treasure Island and found they included scenes
filmed without condoms that demonstrate the unprotected exchange of bodily
fluids. AHF plans to support its complaints by submitting these DVDs, and will
assert that the films demonstrate unsafe, potentially life-threatening behavior
in a California workplace and that the film sets where condoms are not used
provide unsafe California work environments.
Between 2004 and 2010, 23 persons
thought to be connected with the adult film industry have tested positive for
HIV. Los Angeles County health officials determined that eight of these
individuals were likely infected as a result of their work. Also, Los Angeles
County voters recently supported a November 2012 ballot measure requiring
producers of adult films to obtain a county public health permit; follow all
health and safety laws, including condom use; and pay a permit fee sufficient
to cover all enforcement costs.
AHF President Michael Weinstein
explains that as a global HIV and STD medical provider operating treatment
clinics and prevention facilities in California, AHF considers it a duty to
pursue action on the issue of safety in the workplace—in this case unprotected
sex acts taking place in an untraditional workplace. According to Weinstein,
AHF is “filing workplace health and safety complaints with Cal/OSHA to press
for the enforcement of existing state and local workplace regulatory guidelines
[that] would require the use of condoms in…all adult films produced in
California.”
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
