Aids group targets Flynt over condoms

An Aids group has filed a workplace-safety complaint against Larry Flynt, accusing the pornographic film mogul of creating an unsafe environment for his stable of sex stars by not requiring them to use condoms.

To illustrate its point, the Aids Health Foundation (AHF) delivered 100 DVD copies of Flynt's hardcore sex films to the Los Angeles office of the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. Only a single scene in one of the films showed a performer using a condom, said a spokesman for the AHF.

The group's complaint said that the films "clearly demonstrate workplace activities highly likely to spread blood-borne pathogens in the workplace". It urges the state agency to order the use of condoms on film sets.

Michael Klein, the president of Larry Flynt Productions, hit back, saying the AHF's demand was unreasonable and porn audiences did not want to watch people using condoms.

"We won't budge when it comes to condomless productions," he added. "That's what the consumer wants and we deliver it."

US federal law requires that all porn actors are tested for HIV 30 days before the start of filming, and Mr Klein said all Flynt productions adhered to those standards. None of the company's actors had ever tested positive for HIV, he added.

Michael Weinstein, head of the AHF, said it had targeted Flynt partly because he was arguably the world's most famous pornographer.