YNOT – Adult Production Health & Safety Services on Tuesday said the about-face in testing policy by one of the world’s largest adult content producers will have no effect on APHSS database policy or the new fund APHSS administers to reimburse performers for expenses related to health testing.
Luxembourg-based Manwin, a multi-platform adult entertainment company with component studios in the U.S. and Europe, on Tuesday afternoon announced it no longer will accept health-test results from Talent Testing Service, a medical services company with clinics across the U.S. Despite TTS’s lack of standing as an APHSS-approved performer-testing facility, the company remains one of the two most popular resources for adult performers seeking pre-employment certification they are free of sexually transmitted infections.
Most adult studios require certification of a performer’s health dated no earlier than 28 days before the start of filming; Manwin requires re-certification every 15 days. The standard is voluntary, but endorsed by APHSS, the adult industry’s de facto health watchdog. APHSS is a division of adult industry trade association Free Speech Coalition.
According to a prepared statement distributed by Manwin, the company and its subsidiaries including Twistys, Brazzers and Digital Playground “require the testing services to provide the assistance of a full-time doctor on staff, so that the patients who request it can get their tests analyzed and administered while also getting the care they need in case of a positive test.”
TTS does not employ licensed physicians at its clinics, which is the reason the company remains officially un-approved by APHSS. In early July, however, APHSS agreed to incorporate TTS results into the secure database through which producers confirm performers’ health status.
With that in mind, Manwin agreed to accept TTS results, as well. The company subsequently reconsidered.
“[A]t this time, Manwin will not accept STI test results originating from TTS,” Tuesdays statement noted. “However, Manwin hopes to continue discussions with TTS, to come to an agreement that will allow [us] to work together…. For now, and until an agreement can be reached, performers will not be able to submit test results from TTS in order to shoot for a Manwin-owned brand.”
In June, Manwin gifted TTS rival Cutting Edge Testing with the laboratory equipment Cutting Edge needed to meet FDA-approved HIV testing protocols. Cutting Edge is an APHSS-approved primary provider of testing services for the adult entertainment industry.
Free Speech Coalition spokeswoman Joanne Cachapero told YNOT.com Manwin’s policy reversal will have no effect on APHSS.
“In the best interest of the industry, APHSS and Talent Testing Services reached a compromise that allows TTS data to be automatically entered into the APHSS database,” she wrote in an email. “This development is important to ensuring the APHSS database is a complete and comprehensive resource of information for the content-production industry. As long as TTS continues to submit data to the APHSS database, the data will be updated in our system. Producers who accept TTS test results should be able to verify performer work availability through APHSS.”
As for the Performer Subsidy Fund established in July with an endowment from Manwin and the company’s pledge to provide $50,000 monthly for an indefinite period, Cachapero and a Manwin spokesperson both indicated performers may apply for testing-expense reimbursement from the fund regardless the testing facility they use — as long as the provider’s results are part of the APHSS database.
“Performers may still be reimbursed for partial costs of tests done at TTS if TTS continues to submit test results to the APHSS program,” Manwin’s statement advised. “The PSF was conceived by Manwin and [will be] administered by the Free Speech Coalition. Through the fund, performers may receive a monthly subsidy to help with STI testing costs.”
Cachapero reinforced that.
“Manwin has stated that it is their policy to subsidize performers that test at TTS, as long as those performers are signed up for the APHSS program and TTS has submitted data on those performers,” she told YNOT.com. “APHSS intends to administer the subsidies as planned under this policy.
“If industry members have further questions or need information regarding APHSS, they should call 818-348-9373 or email me.”
