AFP - An actor whose HIV positive test sparked a shutdown of the the US porn film industry condemned Wednesday the way the alert was handled, and said condoms must become mandatory on movie sets.
At an emotional press conference, Derrick Burts said regular monthly tests were not enough to protect actors in the multi-billion-dollar business, which suspended production for several months in October.
The 24-year-old slammed the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation (AIM), a clinic for porn industry performers based in the San Fernando Valley north of Los Angeles he says left him untreated for a month and a half.
"People who are behind the industry, the big shots, they need to come up with a system that works, that protects their performers," said Burts, speaking for the first time since the scare erupted.
Repeatedly fighting back tears, he added: "This is a multi-billion-dollar industry, and they can't reach out when somebody tests positive... there needs to be more done."
At least four major film producers suspended filming in October while tests were carried out on all the actor's known partners. Production resumed a few weeks later.
Burts said he had only worked in the porn industry for seven months before being told during a routine test at the AIM clinic on October 8 that he had contracted the HIV virus, which leads to AIDS.
Previously, he had worked as a magician on cruise ships traveling around the world, and as a manager for Marriott hotels.
Singling out the San Fernando Valley clinic for criticism, Burts said: "AIM likes to state that testing is enough to protect the performers from getting STDs (sexually transmitted diseases) and HIV.
"That's completely false. Testing doesn't do anything except inform you of what you have, or don't have. The real protection comes from protecting yourself with a condom," he added.
"It's something that needs to be pushed... wearing condoms is extremely important."
Burts continued: "It makes me question, how many more times does it have to happen, before somethings done about it?
"I don't want this to happen to other people."
The AIM clinic did not immediately respond to his comments.
Burts was speaking at the Los Angeles headquarters of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which he approached when AIM failed to help him find treatment a month and a half after his positive test.
Its chief Michael Weinstein said his government-funded foundation was not against pornography.
"However, we are astounded that the multi-billion-dollar film industry and its fig leaf of a clinic could not even get it together six weeks after his first HIV positive test to link him to appropriate follow-up medical care."
The HIV case was the first in over a year in the industry, and comes six years after up to 14 actors tested HIV positive, forcing several film firms to close.
Wicked Entertainment, one of the biggest porn movie producers on the West Coast, noted that it had obliged all actors to wear condoms for the last 11 years, "and has no plan to change that."
The producing firm's head Steve Orenstein said the AIM clinic played "a vital role in performer safety for the industry."
But he added: "Since we weren't privy to any conversations they had with performers during this incident, we aren't in a position to give a comment on that."
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