NL- This letter was sent out today by the FSC.
April 23, 2012
Dear Producers, Directors, Performers and Agents,
There has been a great deal of discussion as of late as to the best HIV test option for performers. For years, our industry has utilized PCR DNA as the off label (non FDA approved for detection or diagnostic) standard HIV test for performers. Although not sanctioned by the FDA, the medical professionals at AIM chose this test because it was the best test to determine the presence of HIV—especially for acute (recently contracted) infections.
There continues to be great progress in the research, testing, detection and diagnosis of HIV. For some HIV tests the window of time between the point of contracting HIV and viral detection has decreased to as little as 9-11 days. And, tests have become increasingly sensitive, thus increasing the accuracy of test results. After considerable research and contact with infectious disease specialists, pathologists and physicians, we at APHSS (Adult Performer Health and Safety Services) have identified two tests that best meet the needs of our performer population. They are the Aptima HIV-1 RNA Qualitative Assay and the Abbot RealTime HIV 1 Assay. Both tests have the 9 to 11 day window mentioned above.
While the Aptima test is sanctioned by the FDA for detection and diagnosis, the off-label use of the Abbot test has also been identified by experts as an excellent option for the industry because of the doctor’s ability to know the value of the viral load. Beginning May 15th all APHSS testing sites will utilize either the Abbot or Aptima PCR RNA tests. Feel free to contact me at diane@freespeechcoalition.com if you have any questions or would like additional information.
Thank you, Diane Duke
Executive Director (The APHSS.org program is operated by Free Speech Coalition)
NL-Let me just start out by asking why, when there are two closely matched tests, we would push a test that so far is not sanctioned by the FDA, and is only used off-label? Not that it is right or wrong, because it was done by AIM before, but just why? Why would it be something important for FSC to mention right now? Rumor is that the why is because Brazzers wants to use only Cutting Edge Testing for their performers, and the Abbot test is what their lab uses….
Mr Thylmann has not yet answered my request for confirmation on this.
I have a question, too….what about the performers who would rather use some other testing facility other than Cutting Edge Testing, or would rather do their testing with their personal doctor or health care professional?
Not a knock on CET in any way, but one of the main issues behind the initial criticism of the formation of APHSS to begin with was the “monopoly” of having one testing service serve all performers at the expense of “personal choice”.
Also…I’m pretty sure that advocates of the condom mandate (especially Mike Weinstein) will be screaming real soon about a “conflict of interest” where porn production companies like Manwin/Brazzers are able to have control of the testing process via APHSS rather than “independent health care professionals”….you know, like AHF and CalOSHA??
Just putting the question out there.
Anthony
The answer is simple, Anthony – individuals, including performers, have a right to seek medical care from anyone they choose. They do not have a right to demand other people be comfortable with their test results. Some performers and some producers may be comfortable with using a decentralized system, and some may not.
Secondarily, that was not the reason behind the attacks on APHSS. The attacks came in two shades 1) the Mike South “I hate FSC” shade; and 2) the “I want to look like I’m interested in performer health and safety, so I need a platform” shade.
Third, APHSS is not a testing service, it’s a program which integrates various testing services and verifies test results in a centralized format. The medical records of the patients stay with their health care provider — they are not transferred or handled by APHSS. There have always been multiple providers under the APHSS umbrella. The program provides choice. In my experience, performers who remember AIM seem to feel very comfortable with CET.
Fourth, there would be negative PR consequences for those entities attacking yet another clinic, or group of medical clinics, particularly since the APHSS program follows the letter of the law as per the most recent court rulings on medical privacy. Even the imperfectly structured AIM system withstood all Cal/OSHA and AHF’s legal challenges. This doesn’t mean they won’t attack, but it probably means that they would do so regardless of who reportedly prefers one testing method over another.
Finally, even if it were true that Manwin had a preference (see my first point, above) that would not mean the company is in “control of the testing process.”
Anthony made some excellent points – it’s too bad he’s not able to think as independently as he has shown he can here in regards to a few other issues…
I suggest Anthony, that you take a quick look back in time to the point of which Nica Noelle and January Seraph were in the process of putting together an organization called the APA (adult performers association).
Please note how a certain person’s stalking, harassment & cyber-bullying directly correlated with that effort 🙂
Oh…so many bad little boys are in so much BIG TROUBLE!
BTW Cindi – why oh why do you put me on moderation? It’s a little too late to be afraid don’t you think? The deeds have been done. You made your choices and chose a side 🙂
See I actually agree with Whiteacre here….I refused to accept AIM tests.
“They do not have a right to demand other people be comfortable with their test results.”
But in truth this whole HIV thing is simply a red herring, a diversion to mask the real problem. That problem being STD rates are rampant in porn and more specifically HIV isn’t nearly as deadly as the hepatitis they don’t test for.
Now I don’t even advocate mandatory testing for anyone, I would let the performers make the choice BUT and this is a HUGE but, I want the industry to fully disclose the truth. The truth about STD rates, the truth about a performers herpes status, the truth about the dangers of HPV, etc.
My biggest issue is that AIM and the FSC both obfuscate the issue and in all honesty flat out lie to performers, many of whom are too naive to know any better.
Take Diane Duke calling Sharon Mitchell a “Medical professional” in what world is that even remotely excusable? Only in porn.
No system is perfect but common sense goes a long way….maybe that’s why in 20 + years in this industry not one person on any of my shoots has ever contracted any kind of STD. Ever.
But then I won’t shoot just anyone either, I have an interview process and if I don’t like her answers (or his) I don’t care how hot they are I ain’t shooting them.
If this industry attempted to weed out the people that end up in Shelly Lubbens hands up front we’d cause ourselves a lot fewer problems.
Which is why in general I never had a problem with Pink Cross or JC’s Girls or XXX Church. if they prevent someone from coming into this biz that person shouldn’t have been in this biz to begin with, they did us a favor.
I will never be in the halfass (APHSS) database nor will I suggest that anyone else should, it’s a bad idea, it is poorly designed, poorly executed and simply another PWL waiting to happen.
Happily it isn’t even a concern for me, I hate to see porners shooting themselves in the foot but I can’t stop them if they are hell bent on it. I doubt halfass or the FSC will be here in a couple of years anyway, if they even last that long.
Monica….yes, I can think independently. Try it sometimes.
I actually did have some hope with Nica’s idea of an independent agency repping performers….but then it got caught up in all the drama of the condom mandate and other personal nonsense.
And so sorry to disappoint you again, Monica, but I generally support Cutting Edge Testing, since they seem to have done an effective job of bridging the gap from when AIM was originally shut down. I just find it interesting that Manwin/Brazzers gets to mandate testing companies, rather than the performers themselves.
Anthony
She probably put Monica on moderation for when one of her OTHER personalities is in control and might type something considered “crazy”.
Three quibbles, Mike:
1) You write, ” in 20 + years in this industry not one person on any of my shoots has ever contracted any kind of STD. Ever.”
Without a universal testing AND monitoring/surveillance system that could access records of the test results of all performers with whom you worked both before AND AFTER they worked with you, you could not know this for certain. I find it had to believe that for 20 years you’ve done follow-up testing at your own expense for EVERY performer who’s ever worked on one of your sets. And even if you did, you would be prevented by HIPPA regulations to do or say anything about the results of those tests, as you are not a health care provider.
2) You write, “I never had a problem with Pink Cross or JC’s Girls or XXX Church. if they prevent someone from coming into this biz that person shouldn’t have been in this biz to begin with, they did us a favor.”
I agree wholeheartedly that certain people should be nowhere near the adult industry, but the effect that anti-porn groups might have on potential performers is not my basis for opposing Pink Cross. What if these groups scare people off through LIES (not “spin” — LIES)? Or raise money through LIES? Or misapply the monies they receive? I don’t oppose any legitimate group that takes a position in opposition to pornography, on moral grounds or whatever, but when scum like Jenni Case comes out and says people LIKE YOU cheated her, lied to her, didn’t demand HIV tests, made her do things against her will — that goes beyond advocacy and into the world of defamation and fraud.
3) You write, APHSS is “another PWL waiting to happen.” Can you explain how that’s possible when the APHSS database does NOT contain any of the personal/pedigree information that AIM’s did? Doesn’t something have to be present to be stolen?
1. The truth is it only matters to me. I’m proud of it I can’t think of a girl I didn’t stay in touch with for quite some time after we shot, but thats because (partially) I interview most of them in person at least twice prior to shooting so we kinda becomes friends.
2. Those guys just balance out the LIES that porners and FSC tell them, I don’t see it as any big deal really. Jenni Case contacted me, she never said I didn’t demand a test, she said the person who shot her first was not me and that she still considers us friends and that her experience with me was honest and while she regrets doing porn if more people had treated her like I did she probably wouldn’t regret it nearly as much.
3. The database isnt secure, there is no real audit trailyada yada….whenever you put a collection of data in one place like that you have the information compromised to begin with. If VISA/MC can’t protect theirs I guarantee you the brain trust (what there is of it) at the FSC can’t. I did relational dataase design for NASA , Home Depot, Federal Express, Harrahs Casinos (Promus Corp) and others as a private consultant. I can tell you with no uncertainty that in a case like this either the data is compromised from a useability standpoint or from a security standpoint….always. The best you can hope for is to make security so tight as to make hacking the data not worth it. The FSC doesn’t have the knowledge or the resources to do that properly.
Thank you for responding, Mike.
1. Those are anecdotes, Mike, not data, You know better. It also assumes the performers in question actually know where they caught it and/or desire to tell you. That’s not science and it’s not logic either.
You interview them twice before shooting, so you “kinda become friends”? Really, Mike. LOL
Do you honestly expect anyone to believe that 20 years ago when you were shooting scenes in hotel rooms at the adult conventions in Las Vegas, when testing was not what it is now — and you know as well as I do that new talent went from room to room shooting scenes — some performer showed you even a one or two-day old test, and you can somehow be 100% sure that “not one person on any of [your] shoots has ever contracted any kind of STD”? Are you serious?
2. Yes, I’m sure you are indeed on good terms with enemies of the industry such as the Lubbenites.
You write, “Those guys just balance out the LIES that porners and FSC tell” So, you condone the telling of lies as long as the lies hurt your enemies.
And you publish a “news” site that you want people to perceive as credible? Amazing.
3. You completely ignored my question, and dove into an attack on FSC. My question is one of logic, and it is really quite simple: Doesn’t something have to be present in a database to be stolen from a database? How can personal information of the type involved in PWL be stolen if it is not present in the database in the first place?
There ya go again making presumptions i almost NEVER shot while at shows the girls i did shoot at shows like veronica, midori, melissa hill, anna malle and sana fey were very first timers or first time boy/girl scenes and I am still friends with most of them.
But Im not going to argue this with you because I have more productive things I need to be doing.
If the data isnt in a database its worthless database if it is in the database then it isnt secure plain and simple….if there are no names in the database the data is incomplete and easily cheated, if its there its insecure deal with it.
I dont need to “attack” the FSC they shoot themselves in the foot enough without my help, I simply point it out.
Id rather nobody lied to performers but the two cancel each other out so it doesnt strike me as being very significant….the FSC and AIM did far more to harm porn than pink cross or JCs girls.
and frankly i could give a rats ass what a moron thinks of my site, I dont write for them….
More Mike South disingenuousness. You are so pathetically transparent.
So, you almost NEVER shot at shows. LOL What fucking difference does that make? I stated that you shot at shows and you DID. I stated that testing has improved and it HAS. My point is there is NO WAY absent follow-up testing with EVERY performer that you could EVER KNOW that which you claim to know about the hundreds or thousands of amateur and semi-pro performers you’ve shot — either at shows, or out in the sticks, or wherever the fuck you shot your stuff.
People lie about their STI status, people can be mistaken, people can not get a follow-up test, etc — it is exceedingly difficult to determine where a sexually active person who is doing scenes contracted an STI, or transmitted an STI –but it is impossible to know if one can’t look at a tests for EVERY performer before and after the scene. People walk around with STIs for YEARS without knowing they even have them. Even if, hypothetically, every performer was tested immediately prior to their scene you couldn’t make that claim because NO TEST IS 100% accurate. You are so full of shit it’s astounding.
Earlier in this thread you wrote: “calling Sharon Mitchell a ‘Medical professional’ in what world is that even remotely excusable?”
What you conveniently forget to mention, douche-bag, is that the “professionals” at AIM included Healthline Lab, the two-time winner of the Roche Molecular Biollogy Lab of the Year, and the United States West Coast Center of Excellence for Roche Diagnostics (beating out the largest labs in the U.S.).
Healthline had Dr. Sanders Suvall, who was part of the team with Kerry Mullis that won a nobel prize for developing PCR technology. Dr. Suvall was involved on a DAILY basis with AIM testing, and he personally signed off on every single test.
So if a nobel prize winning doctor is not good enough for ya, boy, then who would ya recommend?
All of the tests ever used by AIM, and all of the tests being used now, are fully approved for by the FDA in some capacity, or labs would not be allowed to run them. The FDA, CDC, NIH, County Health etc. were all fully aware of the tests being used by AIM at all times, and the CDC was partnered with Healthline to do research on the testing methodology. That’s PROFESSIONAL, Mr. amateur porn dude.
Lastly, Mike — honestly, do you know how lonely and pathetic you sound when you write statements like: “I interview most of them in person at least twice prior to shooting so we kinda become friends.” I mean, wow. Two interviews = friendship? Really…
Ya know Whiteacre I always figured you weren’t too bright..you just proved it.
It’s a really good idea to stay friends with the girls you soot…ask Ira Isaacs….
As for the rest of it well yer an idiot with way more time on your hands than I have, No response needed to that.
Go back to stalking Lubben and tell me how pathetic my life is LOL
God porn is full of morons, no wonder you feel at home…..
Would you 2 fuck and get it over with already?
@Mike – Spoken like the sycophantic enemy of the porn industry you are.
Tonight I’ll be hanging with some actual porn stars who are actual friends of mine, while you’ll be — I don’t know, sending texts or stirring up drama so you can come to their rescue with your crappy site.
@Jerkuliscious — No need; he’s already been fucked. By life.
Wow I never realized Mike and Mike are actually alts of Jeremy and Roy Garcia?
That’s not fair, KF. Neither Mike has ever been accused of r*pe, forcing sex on girls, bouncing checks, threatening producers, terrorizing performer’s families and lovers and maliciously and relentlessly attacking industry people for years through an “anonymous” pseudonym.
Check this out-one of the stars of MTV’s “Awkard” shot me hacking:
http://cinemagr.am/show/4791155
Awkward, that is
WOW!!! No wonder he was run out of the bis
http://therealpornwikileaks.com/adult-performer-jessica-chase-says-mike-south-lying-ass-avn/