Porn Production Should Shut Down After Performer Found To Be HIV Positive, Says AHF

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) says all porn production should be suspended in Los Angeles after a performer tested positive for HIV. Two adult film companies in Los Angeles have already halted production voluntarily. These industry "efforts" are simply not enough, says AHF, which has been campaigning for compulsory condom use in all adult firm sets. Film LA should halt the issue of permits for porn film production immediately, AHF insists.

Michael Weinstein, President of AHF said:

All porn production should be suspended until, at a minimum, it is known who has been exposed and until that information has been disclosed to public health authorities. Now is not the time to continue the porn industry's seriously flawed system of self-regulation - a system which has been demonstrated time and time again to be inadequate to protect performers from sexually-transmitted diseases. The industry has said that facts about who is infected will likely not be known until the end of the week. Meanwhile, filming continues and performers could be getting exposed and infected.

AHF quotes an article in the Los Angeles Times (Porn Film Performer Tests Positive for HIV):

An adult film performer in San Fernando Valley's lucrative porn industry has tested HIV-positive, prompting at least two well-known adult movie production companies to suspend filming as a precaution. The HIV infection of an active porn performer is the first known local case in more than a year and immediately strengthened calls by AIDS activists for the state to mandate condom use on porn sets and to increase regulation. The case was confirmed to The Times on Tuesday by officials at the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation, known as AIM, a Sherman Oaks clinic that primarily serves porn industry workers.

The clinic that tested the performer positive said it will take two weeks to determine whether any other actors/actresses are also infected. This means nobody has any idea what the risk is at the moment of infected actors/actresses doing explicit sex scenes without protection infecting other actors/actresses.

During the Spring of 2004 five adult film actors were found to be HIV positive. The industry had to eventually close down temporarily. At the time there were calls for obligatory condom use. ("Porn industry in California suspended by HIV")

The 2004 limited outbreak triggered discussions in the California State government regarding the industry, there was talk of making the wearing of condoms during sex scenes mandatory. The industry protested, saying it would kill their sales - arguing that unprotected sex is a major selling point for their movies. Others said such legislation would force the industry underground.

The global pornographic movie industry is dominated by the USA, with the San Fernando Valley area (Los Angeles) being the heart of the industry.

Source: AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Written by Christian Nodqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today 

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Older U.S. Residents Engaging In Casual Sexual Relationships, Survey Finds

A recent survey that found low rates of condom use among single adults in their 50s reflects the age groups' approach to casual sexual relationships, experts say, the New York Times reports. The National Survey of Sexual Health and Behavior, one of the most extensive national studies on sexual health in 20 years, found that 25% of U.S. residents ages 50 and older who were single or had a new sex partner or multiple sex partners in the past year said they used a condom the last time the had sex. Nearly 40% had never had an HIV test, and many did not know their partners' sexual history.

The study -- based on a large, nationally representative survey of sexual behavior -- found that almost 23% of men 50 and older identified their most recent sex partner as a "friend" or a "new acquaintance," as did more than 13% of women in the age group. Although teens and young adults might have coined the phrase "friends with benefits" to describe sexual partners who are "just friends" and not romantically involved, the practice "probably started during the [1960s] sexual revolution, when the middle-aged Americans of today were young themselves," according to the Times.

"'Friends with benefits' are uniquely suited to two groups of people -- the young, who want to delay starting their life, and older people, who don't want to complicate it," according to Pepper Schwartz, a sociology professor at the University of Washington in Seattle and member of the sexual health advisory council of Trojan condom maker Church & Dwight, which financed the survey. Study author Debby Herbenick, associate director of the Center for Sexual Health Promotion at Indiana University, said middle-aged heterosexual women could have limited expectations for their sexual relationships because women often outlive men, thus resulting in fewer older men with whom to share relationships.

Experts said many reasons could account for the low condom use among people age 50 and older. According to Herbenick, many older U.S. singles have spent many years in long-term committed relationships and think of HIV/AIDS as a problem that afflicts younger people. In addition, people over 50 are not targeted by public health messages that encourage condom use and are not encourage by parents to use condoms, as younger people are. Herbenick also said that older men might worry that condoms could cause erectile problems. She also noted than older people simply might be out of the habit of using condoms. "They may just be thinking, 'Gosh, it's been 20 years since I used a condom, I'm not going to start again,'" she said (Rabin, New York Times, 10/9).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

'Selfless Genes Attract Mates'

There is genetic evidence that selfless or altruistic behaviour may have evolved because it was one of the qualities our ancestors looked for in a mate.

This is the finding of Dr Tim Phillips and colleagues from the University of Nottingham and Institute of Psychiatry, King's College, London whose results were published in the British Journal of Psychology last week.

The study investigated whether altruistic behaviour evolved as a result of sexual selection. 70 identical and 87 non-identical female twin pairs completed questionnaires relating to their own levels of altruism (e.g. 'I have given money to charity') and how desirable they found this in potential mates (e.g. 'Once dived into a river to save someone from drowning').

Statistical analysis of their responses revealed that genes influenced variation in both the subjects' preference towards a mate and their own altruistic behaviour an indication that sexual selection might be at work.

Interestingly, there was also a genetic correlation between the two. This suggested that, in our evolutionary past, those with a stronger mate preference towards altruistic behaviour mated more frequently with more altruistic people, thus further supporting a link with sexual selection.

Tim explained: "These results are consistent with a link between human altruism towards non-relatives and sexual selection and throws an exciting new light on the puzzle of altruistic behaviour which appears, at first sight, to be at odds with evolutionary theory."

"The expansion of the human brain would have greatly increased the cost of raising children so it would have been important for our ancestors to choose mates both willing and able to be good, long-term parents. Displays of altruism could well have provided accurate clues to this and so led to a link between human altruism and sexual selection."

Source: British Psychological Society (BPS), AlphaGalileo Foundation.

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Testing African Couples For HIV Is Cost-Effective Prevention Strategy

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
As researchers and policymakers work toward an effective HIV vaccine in a constrained global economy, cost-effective prevention strategies such as Couples Voluntary Counseling and Testing (CVCT) must take a larger role in efforts to decrease the rates of HIV/AIDS in Africa, says Emory University HIV/AIDS vaccine researcher Susan Allen, MD, MPH.

Allen, who has worked to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa for more than 25 years, highlighted the value of CVCT and other cost-effective HIV prevention strategies at the AIDS Vaccine 2010 Conference in Atlanta.

"The majority of new HIV infections are acquired from a spouse, and couples are the largest HIV risk group in Africa," says Allen, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine in the Emory School of Medicine and adjunct faculty member in the Rollins School of Public Health. "By using CVCT to identify those people who do not share the same HIV status as their spouse or partner, we're in a better place to move forward efficiently and effectively once a vaccine does become available."

Allen, founder of the Rwanda Zambia HIV Research Group (RZHRG), notes that the positive impact of CVCT has been supported by published evidence since the early 1990s, yet the program has not yet been implemented on a wide scale. Of more than 30 million Africans tested for HIV, less than one percent has been tested with their spouses, says Allen.

"Funding agencies are only now beginning to understand and appreciate the value of CVCT as part of a broader HIV/AIDS strategy," Allen says.

An estimated 23 million Africans are HIV positive, yet only 3 million are receiving antiretroviral treatment (ARVT). The World Health Organization calculates that for every two new ARVT patients, five new HIV infections occur.

The U.S. government spends approximately $2.2 billion - 10 percent of the entire U.S. bilateral foreign assistance budget - on antiretroviral treatment. Treating one ARVT patient for 10 years costs about $7,000. In comparison, providing couples with voluntary counseling and testing would prevent new HIV infections at a cost of about $300 each, and would leverage other vital programs such as family planning, Allen says.

"The population of Zambia, for example, has grown by more than 50 percent over the last 20 years, but the U.S. has only allocated about 1.3 percent of its budget for family planning. At the same time, more than 60 percent of these budgets have been earmarked for antiretroviral drugs and care, even though less than two percent of the population is on ARVT."

As the population steadily increases, Allen says, funding agencies will face even more pressure to use their funds wisely.

"CVCT is an economical, sustainable and proven model for reducing the rate of HIV/AIDS infections in Africa."

Source:
Ashante Dobbs
Emory University

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

 

HHS Study Shows Mixed Progress On Women-Specific Health Research

While increased research into some women's health issues, including breast and cervical cancer, has resulted in significant progress in the past 20 years, few gains have been made in other areas, such as reducing unintended pregnancy, according to a government-sponsored report released on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reports. The study was conducted for HHS by the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine. It found that while there has been progress in research into life-threatening diseases, other conditions that are not necessarily associated with high death rates -- but that still negatively affect women's lives -- have not received the same attention.

The study analyzed research in ongoing racial disparities, such as why black women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white women, even though they have lower rates of the disease. The study suggests increasing research into women's health disparities within certain populations.

It also recommends that researchers analyze and report study results separately for men and women. Historically, studies have included fewer women than men because of researchers' concerns that women might become pregnant and a false belief that data on men could easily be extrapolated to women.

The report also says that FDA should ensure that companies comply with requirements to provide sex-specific data regarding the safety of new drugs and devices. It also recommends that HHS create a panel to help women understand conflicting findings regarding women's health (Jackson Randall, Wall Street Journal, 9/23).

'Nightly News' Features Study

NBC's "Nightly News" on Thursday examined the findings of the study. The segment featured comments from Nancy Adler, a medical psychology professor at the University of California-San Francisco who led the committee that evaluated the research, and Ethel Siris of New York Presbyterian Hospital, a leading expert on osteoporosis (Bazell, "Nightly News," NBC, 9/23).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

GYT: Safe sex slogan for the Internet age

Get Yourself Tested (GYT)!

Get Yourself Tested is an award-winning national campaign to encourage sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing. The organizations behind this campaign include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood, MTV and many others.

This year GYT is rolling out a series of new initiatives on the air, online, at college campuses and in thousands of health centers and clinics across the United States.

Why is the focus on testing? Many sexually active young people have STDs — and spread them — without knowing it. That's one of the reasons why up to half of that group will have an STD by age 25. GYT aims to change that by:

Normalizing conversations about sexual healthInforming people about STDs Encouraging STD testing as a routine part of health care   Connecting young people to testing centers

The GYT Campaign will be visible in many ways! Watch for:

Celebrities talking about GYTGYT on campusGYT online and mobileMTV News stories about GYTmtvU Dean's List coverage of GYT

OMG. Keep your eyes open for this informative and accurate information on STD testing!

GYT! Let's start talking!!!

Joint Statement By Secretaries Clinton And Sebelius On A 1946-1948 Study

Following is a joint statement by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius on the U.S. Public Health Service Sexually Transmitted Disease Inoculation Study of 1946-1948:

The sexually transmitted disease inoculation study conducted from 1946-1948 in Guatemala was clearly unethical. Although these events occurred more than 64 years ago, we are outraged that such reprehensible research could have occurred under the guise of public health. We deeply regret that it happened, and we apologize to all the individuals who were affected by such abhorrent research practices. The conduct exhibited during the study does not represent the values of the United States, or our commitment to human dignity and great respect for the people of Guatemala. The study is a sad reminder that adequate human subject safeguards did not exist a half-century ago.

Today, the regulations that govern U.S.-funded human medical research prohibit these kinds of appalling violations. The United States is unwavering in our commitment to ensure that all human medical studies conducted today meet exacting U.S. and international legal and ethical standards. In the spirit of this commitment to ethical research, we are launching a thorough investigation into the specifics of this case from 1946. In addition, through the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues we are also convening a body of international experts to review and report on the most effective methods to ensure that all human medical research conducted around the globe today meets rigorous ethical standards.

The people of Guatemala are our close friends and neighbors in the Americas. Our countries partner together on a range of issues, and our people are bound together by shared values, commerce, and by the many Guatemalan Americans who enrich our country. As we move forward to better understand this appalling event, we reaffirm the importance of our relationship with Guatemala, and our respect for the Guatemalan people, as well as our commitment to the highest standards of ethics in medical research.

Source:
HHS

Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.