LOS ANGELES — A Cal/OSHA panel met yesterday to discuss new bloodborne-pathogen standards for the adult industry and determined that a plan would be announced around September.
Diane Duke, Kevin Blanche and adult attorney Karen Tynan were present and spoke on behalf of the FSC and the adult entertainment industry. Representative Mark Roy McGrath from the AIDS Healthcare Foundation also gave a presentation.
“After they testified we were able to stand up and dispel the misinformation,” Duke told XBIZ, regarding AHF's understanding of the adult industry.
Duke said that her team introduced themselves to the new members of the Standards Board and reintroduced a bloodborne-pathogen plan that was developed several years ago by a team that included Paul Cambria, Sharon Mitchell, John Stagliano, Duke and others.
“It’s a solid document and we spent a long, long time creating that," Duke said. "That’s the starting point for us.”
The report given by a staff member at the meeting essentially outlined the process that will be undertaken to develop industry-specific regulations: the Cal/OSHA staff will give their plan to the Standards Board “probably in September,” Duke said. The Standards Board will then review the plan and make changes as they see fit.
The FSC will have the opportunity to contribute their input and will receive a notice 45 days before they are required to do so. At that point, which could be months from now, Duke says they will “rally the industry.”
“These things don’t really happen at lightning speed,” she joked.
According to Duke, the meeting yesterday signaled a loss for the AHF, which she said did not hear what they wanted to hear.
“AHF is not going to be pleased until they’re in charge all of the health and hospitals issues — for the world probably,” Duke said. “We seem to be the voice of reason in this discussion, [which is] how I prefer it. Then they can get all hysterical and we provide the facts.“
Because the Standards Board is not an elected body, Duke believes that they are immune to AHF’s “bullying,” a tactic that she says they successfully used with the L.A. City Council to influence their positive reception of the porn-condom measure.
Duke said that the current bloodborne-pathogen standard for the industry is very similar to what hospitals are expected to comply with.
“When you hear lab coats, gloves, goggles, really that’s what’s expected,” she said. “So anything is going to be improvement over what we’ve got now and how they interpret it now.”
A bloodborne pathogen is a disease that can be spread through contamination by blood. The most common examples are HIV and hepatitis B and C.
