New York Times Article Calls Adult Industry Testing Program a "Model in HIV Efforts" According to No on Government Waste Committee

LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - Nov 5, 2012) - In an in-depth article appearing in tomorrow's New York Times, the testing program for the adult film industry was cited as an "unlikely model in HIV efforts" and demonstrated to the satisfaction of noted AIDS health experts that it worked at keeping performers safe from HIV infections, according to the No on Government Waste Committee, a broad coalition of business, entertainment, healthcare, minority and community organizations fighting to defeat Measure B, the so-called "Safer Sex" initiative on the Los Angeles County ballot.

"The New York Times carefully examined the testing program the adult film industry has in place and interviewed performers, medical authorities and infectious disease specialists and found the program to be successful in keeping HIV virtually non-existent in the industry since 2004," said James Lee, communications director for the No on Government Waste Committee. "The very basis for Measure B in controlling HIV in the porn industry is false and voters have been deliberately misled about the real impacts of this initiative."

In the Times story, Dr. Allan Ronald, a Canadian AIDS specialist who did landmark studies of the HIV virus in prostitutes in a Nairobi slum was quoted as saying "I don't think there's any question that it works. I'm a little uncomfortable, because it's giving the wrong message -- that you can have multiple sex partners without condoms -- but I can't say it doesn't work."

The industry's testing every 14 and 28 days and use of the latest biotechnology tests was cited as an effective means of detecting infections before they were transmitted as Dr. Jacques Pepin, the author of "The Origins of AIDS" and an expert on transmission rates, said in the article "and if you are having sex mostly with people who themselves are tested all the time, this must further reduce the risk."

The article also relates the adult film industry's aggressive response to any potential infections with industry-wide shutdowns and treatment of any infected performer before resuming any production and also described the potential job losses and local tax impact should Measure B pass and the industry moves out of L.A. County.

The full article and accompanying sidebar on the history of HIV in the adult film business can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/06/health/unlikely-model-for-hiv-prevention-porn-industry.html

Downloads of the No on Measure B campaign's latest TV ad running now can also be viewed at http://vimeo.com/52656563.

Measure B, funded and placed on the ballot by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, would require the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to license and permit adult movie productions in the county and require performers to wear condoms and create an unworkable system of on-set inspections and enforcement by county personnel. The county estimates initial start-up costs for the program to be in excess of $300,000, but acknowledges that regardless of the level of compliance by the adult film industry, there would be significant cost to the Department of Public Health.

According to the California Dept. of Public Health, from June 30, 2008 to June 30, 2011, there were 6,447 new cases of HIV reported in Los Angeles County, but only two were adult performers who did not contract the disease on-set. Since 2004, there have been no documented cases of HIV transmission on an adult entertainment set. In fact, with the industry's strict testing protocols -- requiring testing at least every 14 and 28 days for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis -- adult performers are the most tested workforce in the nation.

No on Government Waste Committee
The Committee is comprised of entertainment companies, local business organizations, community activists, adult entertainment performers and healthcare advocates who oppose Measure B's plan for creating an underfunded government inspection program diverting badly needed resources from local community clinics and underserved minority communities. For more information, please visit: www.noongovernmentwaste.com.