California board rejects condom requirement for porn films
LOS ANGELES --Heeding the pleas of scores of actors, directors and producers, California officials in charge of workplace safety have rejected a proposal to require that porn actors cover up with condoms.
Spokeswoman Julia Bernstein says the measure was rejected Thursday when only three members of the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health's Standards Board voted in favor.
Four yes votes were required for passage.
Bernstein says Cal/Osha will now begin considering a new workplace safety measure for porn actors.
Board members heard more than five hours of testimony from those who said audiences won't accept condoms in porn films.
The board was told the requirement would force the industry underground.
That, they say, could eliminate safety standards already in place, such as testing every 14 days for sexually transmitted diseases.
Porn industry officials previously said the proposed restrictions go too far and could result in actors having to wear not only condoms but also safety goggles and dental dams -- a rectangular piece of latex -- when engaging in some acts like oral sex.
"That's pure fantasy on their part," responds Michael Weinstein, head of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who has pushed Cal/OSHA for years to adopt workplace safety regulations aimed specifically at the porn industry.
Porn executives say their own requirement that actors be tested every 14 days for sexually transmitted diseases provides adequate protection.
They add that tougher Cal/OSHA rules could drive their multibillion-dollar business, much of which is based in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley, out of the state.
"These are unworkable regulations based in fear and stigma, not science or public health," said Eric Paul Leue, executive director of the industry trade organization the Free Speech Coalition.
He added that more than 100 actors plan to speak out against the proposed regulations.
Under the 21-page proposal the agency was considering, so-called engineering controls, "such as condoms" must be used by actors engaging in sex to reduce the risk of being infected.
Producers would have also been required to pay for medical visits, treatments and other health-care costs for their performers.
One of those in favor of it, former actor Derrick Burts, has said he became infected with HIV while making porn films despite the testing protocol.
"People have suffered serious consequences due to lack of regulation in this industry," Weinstein said.
Condoms are already required for films made in Los Angeles County, thanks to an AIDS Healthcare Foundation-sponsored ordinance that voters adopted in 2012.
Weinstein has complained that filmmakers, who sometimes work out of houses they rent for just a day are two, sometimes ignore that law.
Cal/OSHA could enforce its regulations with, among other things, the kind of workplace visits it requires of other industries.