Californian porn actors may have to wear condoms in films
State's occupational safety and health standards board to hear evidence from Aids healthcare group before making decision
California health and safety authorities will decide today whether performers in sex films should be legally required to wear condoms during shoots, in an effort to stem the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
The California division of occupational safety and health is taking up a petition from the Aids healthcare foundation, an advocacy group which is lobbying for workplace protection to be extended to people working in the porn industry.
According to the foundation, condoms are currently used in fewer than one fifth of "hardcore heterosexual pornography", the foundation said, citing estimates from Los Angeles health officials.
Michael Weinstein, the foundation's president, said: "The adult film industry has steadfastly refused to take any steps to protect its workers from diseases spread by blood-borne pathogens, resulting in thousands of employees becoming infected with sexually transmitted diseases."
In frank language, the petition describes all the sex acts that adult film performers undertake in the line of duty, which the group says put them at risk of infection from sexually transmitted diseases.
Story From the Guardian UK
