Valley Porn Production Resumes Following HIV Scare

Steve La

Some activists want porn producers to mandate condom-use on-set.

Following last month's HIV scare in adult video, more than a few major porn producers put the brakes on production as the Sherman Oaks-based Adult Industry Medical (AIM) Heathcare Foundation tried to sort out who might have had sexual contact with patient zero.

No other HIV-positive tests were reported, and on Friday Vivid, arguably the world's largest porn studio, announced that it would resume production Monday.

Vivid shut down production Oct. 12 following the positive report for an actor who was believed to have performed in both straight and gay videos.

AIM put performers who had contacted patient zero under a voluntary "quarantine," meaning no sex and no shoots.

"We made the decision to halt production as the health and well-being of our performers is of utmost importance to us," said Vivid chairman Steven Hirsch. "We can now confirm that all performers who were on the quarantine list as a result of being exposed to the HIV-positive performer have gone through two rounds of testing and the results are negative."

The HIV scare put the industry on the defensive as the AIDS Healthcare Foundation used the incident to emphasize its argument that porn sets should be requiring condoms.

As we reported, state authorities agree and have been citing some producers for not using condoms, although enforcement is spotty.

Industry leaders have argued that its system, in which performers undergo twice-a-month tests and producers have access to the results before shoots, works.

"We believe that AIM acted professionally and thoroughly and proved that their system works," Hirsch said. "We will, of course, continue to require recent test results for all performers in our movies and will continue to take all necessary precautions to assure their health and safety."