Porn industry threatens to leave LA if city agrees to condom use

Los Angeles porn vendors have threatened to leave the nation's porn capital if authorities carry through with their effort of condom use on adult film sets.u00a0On Tuesday, the Los Angeles city council voted 9-1, granting final approval to an ordinance that would deny film permits to producers who do not comply with the condom requirement.

Before the measure can take effect, however, the council has called for the creation of a committee of police officials, the city attorney, state health officials and others to determine how it might be enforced.

"It's going to be interesting to see how in fact they do try to enforce it and who's going to fund it, and all of the time and effort they're going to spend," CBS News quoted Steven Hirsch, co-founder and co-chairman of Los Angeles-based Vivid, one of the largest makers of erotic movies as saying.

"Ultimately I think what they will find is people will just stop shooting in the city of Los Angeles.u00a0"That's a given," he said.u00a0Other industry officials agree with Hirsch, condemning the measure as too politically correct, and one that cannot be enforced in the city known as the porn capital of the country.

Mark Kernes, senior editor of Adult Video News, sai that approximately 90 percent of U.S. porn films are made in Los Angeles, almost all of them in the city's San Fernando Valley.u00a0The porn industry, including films, internet downloads, sex toys and admission to dance clubs, produces about 8 billion dollars a year - but it has been battered in recent years by the recession and the popularity of free online porn.

According to Kernes, requiring condoms would further erode business.u00a0Many consumers, particularly those overseas, have made it clear they won't watch films when the actors use condoms, complaining that it is distracting and ruins the fantasy.

"You can't actually compel an industry to create a product that the market doesn't want," Christian Mann, general manager of Evil Angel, another of the industry's largest production companies, said.u00a0Ged Kenslea, spokesman for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, said the measure is needed because the industry has failed to properly police itself. For years, he said, filmmakers have ignored state health laws mandating the use of condoms when workers are exposed to blood-borne pathogens.

The industry already does its own policing, filmmakers say, requiring actors be tested for sexually transmitted diseases a minimum of every 30 days when they are working.u00a0They say no cases of HIV have been directly linked to porn films since 2004, adding they fear if the industry scatters to areas outside of Los Angeles, testing could fall by the wayside, exposing performers to more risk.

"If someone is going to catch an STD, it's usually out of the business because we are tested so often," Tabitha Stevens, veteran porn actress and producer, said.

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