In a stinging rebuke to backers of the mandatory condom bill, AB 1576, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has said that not one of the five HIV cases cited by proponents could, in fact, be traced to adult film production.

In an interview with Allen Young of the Sacramento Business Journal, Assemblymember Isadore Hall claimed that the LADPH had reported five cases of adult film performers getting HIV on-set in 2013.

Initially, Young ran the fact unchallenged. However, when Young called the LADPH for confirmation of the figure, the LADPH not only disagreed, they asked for a retraction.

From a statement by the LA County Department of Public Health, affirming the AB 1576 opponents’ position that no adult performer contracted HIV on a porn set in 2013—as both Bay and Daily had implied that they had.

The previous statements made by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health regarding sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevalence among performers in the adult film industry were based on estimates, as the total number of adult film performers is unknown and individuals are not required to report their occupation to receive STD screening.

Since 2010, the reporting of occupational information for adult film performers has declined due to several factors, including the closure of AIM Medical, patient concern with privacy, and the likely substantial decline of adult film production in Los Angeles County (LAC). Furthermore, most performers have private sexual lives and non-film related sexual activity in addition to their work in the adult film industry, and so it is difficult to determine where STDs may have been acquired—as a result of personal sexual choices or on set. Therefore, we cannot determine the current rates of STDs among adult film performers in LAC.

In 2012, a total of 64,979 STDs were reported in LAC, with an unknown percentage associated with the adult film industry. The total includes all reported LAC HIV cases but does not include gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia or other non-HIV STDs in Long Beach and Pasadena.

The Health Department also issued an additional correction, which it asked Young to make to his article, which reads, “In 2013, the Department of Public Health did not confirm any cases of HIV among LAC residents that can be attributed to the production of an adult film.”

In other words, Hall is lying.

Young fixed the story, then ran a correction chastising Hall for not only misrepresenting numbers, but also for making false claims about the ability of adult film businesses to operate outside of California.

Due to misleading information provided by Assemblyman Isadore Hall, a previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Los Angeles Department of Public Health documented five HIV transmissions of adult film actors in 2013, and that commercial pornography was only legal in California and New Hampshire. The LADPH drew no conclusive link between HIV and adult film production in 2013, and notes that such connections are difficult to determine. While California and New Hampshire have legitimized pornography by determining that production doesn’t violate prostitution laws, other states have been less specific on the issue, and adult film production regularly occurs outside of California.

Hall and AB1576 co-sponsor Michael Weinstein have also been criticized for using debunked STI numbers to justify their legislative juggernaut against adult film performers. Over 600 film performers have come out against the bill, calling it paternalistic and insulting.

Source / Additional text from AVN