Hold On Adult-Film Production, Placed After 3 Actors Get HIV, To Be Lifted Friday

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A moratorium, imposed upon the adult-film production in Southern California in response to at least three performers being diagnosed with HIV, will be lifted Friday.

The Free Speech Coalition also announced that adult performers will have to be tested every 14 days in order to continue working.

"Our industry protocols are designed to be conservative and our doctors support a conservative approach," CEO of the coalition Diane Duke said. "That is why, moving forward, the physicians have recommended and we have implemented a 14-day testing protocol."

The change was prompted by three performers testing positive for HIV, according to the coalition. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation last week announced that a fourth performer had tested positive, even though an FSC statement on Monday suggested there had been no additional positive tests beyond the original three.

The coalition also contends that the three confirmed HIV cases did not originate -- and were not transmitted -- on set.

The coalition also announced that, in addition to the 14-day testing requirement, it plans to work with doctors and workplace-safety experts in order to implement a "performer education program."

"We can do more to help our performers learn how to protect themselves, on screen and off," Duke said. "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."

Actress Cameron Bay, 28, was the first to test positive, which prompted the coalition to impose a moratorium on the production. That moratorium, though, lasted no longer than about a week.

Actor Rod Daily, who had been romantically linked to Bay, announced on his Twitter page that he, too, had tested positive. The Free Speech Coalition announced the third HIV case on Sept. 6, prompting a reinstatement of the moratorium.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which championed a new law mandating the use of condoms on all adult film sets and called repeatedly for stricter enforcement, has filed a workplace-safety complain with Cal/OSHA against Kink Studios, where Bay worked.

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