MIAMI — Talent Testing Service (TTS) announced today a plan to spearhead the creation of a new organization: the Adult Independent Health Panel (AIHP), with a stated mission that appears to overlap with that of the decades-old PASS system.
The announcement was made by TTS via Twitter this morning.
As XBIZ reported, TTS unilaterally stopped submitting data to the PASS system in June 2020, at the early height of the COVID pandemic, over a dispute about testing protocols.
According to the TTS statement released today announcing its intention to lead in the formation of the new AIHP, the proposed new group will consist of “advocates of all industry stakeholders including but not limited to talent, producers, agents, participating laboratories, media, as well as scientific experts.”
There are no details yet as to which specific stakeholders have agreed to participate in the AIHP organization. The statement invites interested stakeholders to email participate@youraihp.com.
The stated “primary mission” of the AIHP will be “to serve as a communicating forum between all stakeholders. It will review epidemiological trends and advise the industry as a whole on health-related matters with full transparency among other important topics.”
TTS President and CEO Sixto Pacheco said, “We have been advocating for a panel like this for some time. We are excited to be spearheading this effort as we feel it will fill a much-needed void.”
According to the statement, AIHP intends to hold its first meeting sometime in January 2023, then meet quarterly and on an as-needed basis.
PASS Responds
Ian O’Brien, director of PASS, spoke with XBIZ today and stressed that PASS “is a neutral, nonprofit organization whose mission is to serve the health and safety of the adult industry.
“We make no money from testing,” O’Brien continued. “Our board is comprised of clinicians, public health experts and industry stakeholders, including talent and production. We consult with studios, producers and agents regularly. We recently established a Talent Advisory Board in response to the recent chlamydia outbreak, to provide guidance.”
Regarding today’s TTS’s announcement, O’Brien stated that PASS has “strong relationships” with its testing partners, who he said have been “proactive and collaborative in finding better solutions for the industry. With TTS’ dominant market share, they already have a significant influence on what kind of testing the industry has access to. If this were a matter of health, there are plenty of opportunities for them to cooperate and invest in the betterment of this industry’s well-being. It is unclear to me what the formation of their own health panel serves other than their own self-interest.”
Mike Stabile, director of public affairs for FSC, tweeted today, “Something about ‘independent’ and ‘entirely controlled by a for-profit testing lab’ is not making sense to me.”
