Mutt

In the words of former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, when told
about the lack of oversight of the adult film industry: "These folks
are a reservoir. They don't just have sex with one another. They have
sex with regular people outside their business--doctors, lawyers,
teachers, your next-door neighbor."

But California regulators and political officials don't believe the
public is worried about protecting the porn stars themselves--despite
the enormous popularity of the films they produce. As David Gurley,
staff attorney for the California Labor Commissioner's office, says:
"Porn stars--people think they're not worth the time. The public sees
these people as disposable."

Told of those remarks, and similar ones by other California officials,
former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop said: "That's ridiculous.
That's the same thing we heard about the gay community back in the
early days of AIDS." Koop was an early crusader in the fight against
the disease.

Koop and others note that in Nevada, legal brothels are subject to
stringent state oversight--and the spread of sexually transmitted
disease in that industry has been reduced to trace amounts. In
California, the adult film business, which has expanded to include the
most risque forms of sex widely referred to as Triple X, is remarkably
similar in scope to Nevada's legalized prostitution in terms of the
number of people employed and the nature of the job. Yet the only
monitoring in Triple X is a form of modest self-regulation by some
companies that request health tests before performers go on camera.
But even that practice is neither widespread nor tightly monitored.
"The fact that no one's watching this industry is shocking," Koop
says. "How many people have to be infected with an STD before someone
does something?"

Actress Anne Marie Ballowe is a former porn star who flourished in the
burgeoning business. She was born in Taegu City, S. Korea, the
daughter of a U.S. serviceman and a South Korean woman. The family
moved to the United States, where her parents soon divorced. Her
mother gave her to her father, who was living in a small Missouri
town, when Ballowe was 7. She says she was raped by schoolmates at age
16. The following year she ran away to Los Angeles with dreams of a
better life.

She found it. Sort of.

Ballowe became famous, paid thousands of dollars to grin for the
camera, prance beneath the hot lights--and have sex with strangers.
For years she enjoyed the perks of her job, shuttling around town in
limousines, attending hot Hollywood parties, dating famous athletes
and rock 'n' roll gods. During her seven years in the business, she
starred in scores of Triple-X films.

Legal and medical records show she walked away from the business in
1998 with chlamydia, which could make her sterile; cytomegalovirus,
which could eventually make her blind; hepatitis C, which has damaged
her liver; and HIV, which could cause AIDS and probably kill her.
According to medical records, her liver is too damaged--in part
because of the hepatitis--to allow her to take the anti-viral drugs
that could delay the onset of AIDS.

Along the way, she also became a drug addict, and she has exhibited
symptoms of schizophrenia. Today the 29-year-old former actress lives
in Honolulu. There, sitting inside an AIDS clinic for homeless
patients, waiting for medication, she hides her past behind an
engaging smile. "I know people hate what we do," she says. "But porn
stars make a lot of money for other people. If farmworkers have
rights, so should we. The laws need to change."

Hours later, staring at the TV screen inside a friend's apartment,
Ballowe watches a clip from a 1998 video she made for Hard Core
Television and K-Beech Video Inc. It is the film in which Ballowe has
alleged she was infected with HIV by an actor named Marc S. Goldberg.
She was paid $10,000 for her work, but records show the check bounced
just days after she learned that she was HIV positive.

As the video plays, Ballowe quietly excuses herself and walks into the
bathroom, locking the door behind her. Water runs into the sink,
nearly muffling the sound of retching.

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