Tuesday, December 16, 2014 US porn actors must wear condoms: court

By AFP
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LOS ANGELES
 
Nairobi residents mark the International Condom Day on February 13, 2014. Hollywood porn film actors must wear condoms on set. PHOTO | NATION MEDIA GROUP   

In Summary

• The ruling upholding a Los Angeles County law, which was approved by a referendum in November 2012 as so-called Measure B, requires adult film producers to obtain a public health permit, follow all health and safety laws including condom use, and pay a permit fee.
• The industry is primarily based in the San Fernando Valley north of LA.

Hollywood porn film actors must wear condoms on set, a federal appeal court said Monday, throwing out their claims that it breaches US First Amendment rights.

The ruling upholding a Los Angeles County law, which was approved by a referendum in November 2012 as so-called Measure B, requires adult film producers to obtain a public health permit, follow all health and safety laws including condom use, and pay a permit fee.

Porn film companies claimed their industry already regulates itself sufficiently to protect actors against AIDS/HIV and other diseases.

It also violates the First Amendment right to free expression, they said.

REDUCING STIs

But that argument was rejected by a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld a decision taken in August last year.

Measure B "was narrowly tailored to achieve the substantial governmental interest of reducing the rate of sexually transmitted infections, and left open adequate alternative means of expression," they said.

Porn film makers in California were forced to suspend production temporarily in 2011 after an actor tested positive for HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, in the latest such disruption to the multibillion-dollar industry.

The industry is primarily based in the San Fernando Valley north of LA.

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