The porn industry was facing another HIV scare this week as the adult-business lobbying group known as Free Speech Coalition has called for a halt to production.

A performer has turned up HIV-positive, and the Free Speech Coalition wants to pause things “for the protection of performers,” FSC chief Diane Duke said in a statement today:

“We are following established protocols,” she said.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which spearheaded a voter-approved initiative, Measure B, that mandates condom use in porn in most of L.A. county, said the scare is an example of why the business needs to comply with the new law.

See also: Porn's Condom Rule Stays, But it Might Be Hard to Enforce.

Michael Weinstein, president of the AHF:

How many adult film performers have to become infected with an array of preventable sexually transmitted diseases — including HIV, which is not curable — before the porn industry actually complies with the law requiring condom use? Testing is not prevention. So far, the industry has considered running away from Los Angeles to shoot, considered not getting the required permits as well as brazenly continuing to break the law — they've considered everything except complying with the law. It is high time the laws requiring condom use by adult film performers — both Measure B and Cal/OSHA statutes — are enforced on city, county and statewide basis.

The report of an HIV-positive performer comes on the heels of a syphilis scare, which apparently turned out to be bunk, and a report of a porn star possibly trying to perform after turning up with Hepatitis C.

See also: Porn Stars Face New Testing For Hepatitis.

Following that latter report, the Adult Production Health and Safety Services organization, launched by the FSC, added two hepatitis tests to its recommended battery of monthly checks for performers.

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