AIDS Group Can’t Force Safe Sex in Porno Films

(CN) - Hardcore pornography actors in Los Angeles cannot be compelled to use condoms by the health department, a California appeals court ruled.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation and its president, Michael Weinstein, sought a writ of mandamus that would compel the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to require the use of condoms, as well as hepatitis B vaccinations, for actors in the adult film industry.

Failure to act by the department allowed the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, the foundation claimed.

The trial court dismissed the complaint, and the Los Angeles-based California Court of Appeals affirmed in ruling in an opinion written by Justice Richard Aldrich.

STD infection diagnoses among adult film performers in Los Angeles County, the epicenter of the porn industry, have skyrocketed in recent years, according to the health department, which found that there were 2,847 infections among 1,884 performers between 2004 and 2008.

An outbreak of HIV also afflicted the porn industry in 2004, according to the department.

Even so, the foundation cannot tell the health department exactly how to control the spread of disease, according to the June 16 ruling, which was certified for publication on Friday.

"Even if the foundation believes the department's efforts are not effective, the foundation cannot obtain mandamus relief for this alleged violation," Aldrich wrote. "The decision on what steps to take to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is entrusted to the department."

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