Adult Film Industry Resumes After 3 Infected

A two-week moratorium on professional adult films will end Friday after three actors were found to have tested positive for HIV.

Adult film industry trade group, Free Speech Coalition (FSC), requires all performers to test on or after Thursday, to be cleared to work. Additionally, the industry is revising its sexually transmitted disease testing protocols to require performers to test every 14 days, in contrast to the previous policy requiring testing every 28 days.

The change in policy comes after three performers tested positive for HIV, beginning with a 28-year-old actress who goes by the screen name Cameron Bay. Shortly after Bay tested positive, Rod Dailey, another adult actor and Bay’s real-life boyfriend used Twitter to announce that he too had tested positive. Days later FSC announced that a third performer, not yet identified, had also tested positive.  

No additional incidences of HIV have surfaced, and subsequent tests of the stars’ scene partners established that the virus was not transmitted on set. In addition, FSC’s Performer Availability Screening Service (PASS) worked closely with the infected performers to identify the 1st generation exposures. The program also plans to work with doctors, workplace safety specialists and performers to support a performer education program.

Despite the new measures taken, critics of the adult film industry claim the incident continues to show that film producers are not doing enough to protect performers.

"Whether or not [Bay] was infected on set, she performed with HIV between her tests," AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein said last week, reports Los Angeles Times.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation backed a California state bill requiring adult film actors wear condoms during shoots, but State Sen. Isadore Hall's bill died in committee last week.

In response to such industry critics, Chief Executive Diane Duke contended that the current testing protocols have worked to prevent transmissions on set.

“We can do more to help our performers learn how to protect themselves, on screen and off,” Duke stated on the group’s website. “While the increased testing will further ensure safer sets, it is important that we remain vigilant. Going forward, we need to constantly look to both performers, producers and health care professionals to find ways to improve our protocols.”

Friday marks 15 days since the third actor tested positive. According to FSC, the window period for the HIV RNA Aptima test is seven to 10 days, yet industry protocols now dictate that retests occur 14 days or later as an added precaution.