Officials in Los Angeles, where the industry is centered, said Tuesday that it would be nearly impossible to enforce such restrictions.
"It's very, very difficult to implement," Dr. Jonathan Fielding, the county's public health chief, told the Los Angeles Times. "There are roughly 200 production companies with 1,200 actors. All you need is a room and a camera and a bed, basically, to do this kind of shoot, and we have no ability to police this."
Gabriel Bouys, AFP / Getty Images
Los Angeles County health officials say they will not attempt to force actors in adult movies to use condoms because they lack the resources to enforce such a rule.
In 2004, following a spike in HIV infections among porn actors, the industry itself enacted guidelines for condom use in films. Today, however, condom use in films is almost nonexistent.
As reported by ABC News, at least 16 porn actors have tested positive for HIV since 2004, even though for much of that time, the industry has required HIV/AIDS tests every 30 days.
In December, L.A. County Superior Court Judge David P. Yaffe rejected a petition that attempted to mandate the use of condoms on all adult film sets, citing the county health board's authority to decide how to deal with public health threats.
"Words alone cannot fight disease," the petition circulated by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation said. "For over a decade, county health officials have talked, watched, written and analyzed. What county health officials have not done is act."
In addition to the spread of HIV, more than 3,700 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis have been reported at a clinic in the San Fernando Valley frequented by porn industry actors, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Some L.A. County officials who support mandating condom use in porn films say that for any such restrictions to be enforceable, a measure would need to be passed in the state Legislature, enabling police to raid movie sets.
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